


The Abyss of Dirty Souls

by TevinterJunkie



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angels, Death, Demons, F/F, F/M, Ghosts, Kinda non con (not descriptive but mentioned), Liao is a man, M/M, Supernatural - Freeform, There's an OC, Trans Character, its already super gay in the first chapter, mythical, non religious, spoopy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-18
Updated: 2017-04-19
Packaged: 2018-09-09 16:18:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 32,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8899045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TevinterJunkie/pseuds/TevinterJunkie
Summary: Gabriel doesn't like his job, but it's decent. At least, it used to be, right up to the point he was practically required to venture down a dark alley into a rotting part of town, unused by civilization regularly for years. Gabriel doesn't like his job, but it pays, in more ways than one.





	1. Prologue

If he had dollar for every ghost he had spotted along the way, he'd have enough gas money for a year, despite not owning a car other than the borrowed squad vehicle. Regardless, the faces blank and unsteady did not ease him. It was a pensive melody that did not sing, and did not play instruments other than the bustle of the city and the sharp chimes in the back of his head as he shuffled past. The street began to dense and cluster; more of the hungry, more of the sick. He practically fought his eyes off of them, cursing himself for not having finished the task at hand earlier. One hand near his holster, the other near the pocket his wallet was in. Just in case. It was always just in case.

He was going to buy bread. He would take the ulterior path home, bitterly and unhappily, per usual. The officer had had a long day, in short, and was willing to forget it all. However, his muenster and turkey sandwich could not be made without fresh slices of wheat bread, and he did not feel like eating anything else. He was picky. If he wasn't, most likely, he'd be on the L train home right then. 

As he reached the small, shit-shack conscience store he usually darted in from time to time to pick up an odd need or two, he felt his communicator, a black box with a stubby antenna, vibrate from it's holster on his belt. He sighed, muttering a soft 'great'. It had to be Liao, reminding him he'd left something, and he swore, if it were his keys, he'd be mad at himself for it. He would thank Liao for it though, since he would always check over his desk in the office to see if he'd left anything. Grateful he'd be to not get all the way to his doorstep and not find a stupid carved slip of metal. 

He clicked the communicator on, pressing it to his ear. As soon as he assumed this action, a few people stared at him warily, more than they had recently been. He ignored them, like he always did. A black officer in the rough side of town had to learn how to do this quickly to avoid looking stupid amongst other things. 

"Hello? Officer Reyes reporting."

It was Liao, in fact. He didn't sound very happy though; tired, although his shift was only an hour before Reyes left. "Gabriel, you are in the outer district. You're not home yet?"

"No, I'm not." He responded. "Need me to come back?"

"No." Liao replied. "I need you to head to the station. I've gotten a call from various bystanders that there has been an incident, and I can't seem to get a signal in that area."

"Station?", Gabriel asked, swallowing. "I'm no where near-"

"The station. The closed off one. I don't remember it's name, but it's in the outer district."

"You know where I am according to the location?"

"Yeah." Liao was one of the communications dispatcher at their office. He would take calls and report them to officers in the closest area to the situations. Gabriel was an emergency responder. "It's past the area you are in. You should find it easily, but..." He wavered. "Again, it's closed off...it's back into old streets, you should know the ones. Gabriel, I'm sorry for asking you to do this."

"It's fine, Liao." He told him, although he was very close to not meaning a word. If it wasn't for his heart he would tell him exactly how he felt; 1, 'fuck you for eating my left overs from Tuesday in the office fridge', and 2, 'I just want to buy my bread, go home, crawl into bed, and eat the most saddest sandwich of my life'.

Instead he sided with, "Its my job. I'll try to see what's going on."

Liao took a breath, but even so, feel silent, as if he was distracted. His reply was short. "Alright. Be safe." And he turned off the communicator. 

Gabriel sighed, snapping his box back to his standard leather belt. He could feel the stares of the people falling more intense, digging into his back as if they knew something he didn't. Maybe he was just far too anxious about traveling down some alley into backroad not used my mankind that weren't selling drugs or were not homeless by himself in the nearing dark. Although he was a police officer, it meant nothing. Call him a wuss, call him a sissy. You would not be wrong.

Gabriel began to feel sweaty, and hot, contrary to the winter that was going on around him.  
He pulled himself together, feeling into his jacket pocket. There, he located his keys, accompanied by a gum wrapper. Next time, he would be sure to leave his keys at work, and intentionally.


	2. Blue Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Strange business man, he was.

The officer eased into the nearest alley. It wasn't on a whim; the alley seemed to lead away from the Main Street and into another path, and it was wider than an alley, as if it had used to serve as a street at some point. At the end, there was a metal pole sticking out of the pavement, but it was without a sign. It had to indicate something. 

When he reached the end, he found two options. Left and right. He went directly with the philosophy of Robert Frost; the path not taken (at least not in a while) proved to set as an eased choice. 

The left path was mostly clear, save a few smashed, soiled boxes and the occasional soda can and cigarette. The commensurate was cluttered with litter, over flooding onto the dark, grimy ground. Gabriel almost swore he saw someone near the dumpster, drinking. It would not shock him. Gabriel was at least a smart enough person to stay away. 

He turned left, kicking a tin can as he meandered. It wasn't long before he reached its end, meeting with another pole. This time, it held up a sign, 'Metro Station Avenue'.

He scrunched his brows, stepping out into the fray. It was an open area, respectfully; graffiti was scrawled all over the walls of older buildings, deteriorating, and molded. There was trash everywhere, and signs of desertion. Windows broken, glass chunks scattered in the street. There were sidewalks. He was certainly in an old ghost section of the city he lived in, and although he was a cop, he had never been requested to go into such a shady place. 

He peered at some of the graffiti. Regular tags, obscure images, without marvelous artistic value, and quotes that were mainstream enough even he thought them at least a few times a week. Then, there was a white circle, with an orange stripe running down the middle. It stood out amongst the other scribbles; bright contrast to the dark. It was strange, and felt out of place, although he did not think it meant anything. 

Gabriel heard a crunch, snapping his eyes back into focus. He turned his head sharply, to the left, to the right, and behind himself. Nothing. It couldn't have been the wind, and he knew that he hadn't moved an inch himself. The officer cleared his throat, taking a slow breath. 

'Calm your shit, Gabriel.' thought he. 

Then, he heard it again. His hand instantly fell upon his handgun's grip. He did not pull it out of his holster, but braced. 

The sound of snapping glass came from his left, and simultaneously his right. From behind him, and even forward. What was he actually hearing? No where around him was anyone. 

And then, there was.

"Officer!", he heard a man's voice call out. Gabriel turned around. 

There stood a man taller than himself; he dressed better than any of the people he had saw on Main Street, so he did not seem to have a reason to be in the old thoroughfare. He wrote khaki, tight around his legs, and nice dress shoes. His undershirt was a plain white tee, his overcoat was a grey suit jacket. His eyes were crystal blue; they had to be contacts. His hair, blonde, and very short. Very neat. 

Why was a model calling out to him in the middle of No Where, Fucksville? 

He slowly released his handgun, and the man noticed. "Oh, I'm sorry! I did not mean to alarm you."

"Oh.", Gabriel clucked. "Oh, do you need any assistance?" He cringed at how horrible that sounded, but he was a little too on edge to think of anything else. 

"Yes, if you'd will. I saw you going back here, and," the man turned sideways, pointing back at the sign. "This says Metro. I'm looking for the old station."

"I'm sorry, sir, but there has been an accident there." Gabriel replied, beginning to wonder what this man would want to do with that illness inviting place. "I'm trying to find it myself, actually." He confided. 

"I know there has been an accident." He paused, and returned with sincerity in his voice. "A close friend of mine was there; Ana. I'm afraid something might have happened to her. Do you know what happened?"

"I'm afraid I do not.", Gabriel replied. "My communications overseer sent me here, but he can't get into contact with any of the units there." He did not know why he was talking so much, but he did know that the man seemed to be concentrating on every word. "Uhm..."

"So you don't know anything?"

"No. I'm sorry. I'm afraid I can't let you come with me, sir." Gabriel politely replied. 

"Oh." The man sighed, his eyes appearing frustrated but everything else about him was gentle. Almost fake. "Well, uh, maybe I could give you my number, and you could contact me if you hear anything about her?"

There was a pause. "Or," the man's pristinely sharpened cheekbones reddening. "Someone else could. I'm really desperate to see how she is doing."

Gabriel knew that this seemed like a rouse. Like the Ana woman did not really exist. Like this was all in attempt to get his number. However, as he looked over the man, he appeared obnoxiously straight. Besides, he story was elaborate in the fact that he knew an accident had happened in the first place. 

"Yeah.", Gabriel continued. "I can...call you. I understand being worried about someone, and I bet the cellular signal back here is less than extraordinary. So don't worry, I'm sure your friend is fine, Mr..."

"Jack." The man, Jack, replied. His hair certainly looked like Monterey Jack cheese. "Just call me Jack. Here..."

He pulled out a business card. Unreal. 

He handed it over to the officer, who took it between his fingers, turning it over. There was his number. 'Jack Morrison', but he didn't take the time to examine his title. Most likely pretentious. 

"Alright. I'll call you when I get back to the station."

"Alright." Jack nodded, gratefully. He looked like a ten ton weight had lifted from his shoulders. "Thank you, Gabriel."

This made the previously mentioned squint, his mind blanking. He just said his name. How did he know his name? He could not remember meeting this man anywhere before. 

"Do I...know you from somewhere?" Gabriel asked slowly, feeling his heart stumble around in its cavern. 

Jack almost looked worried, as if his tongue had slipped, but finally found the words. "Your badge."

Gabriel nodded. Yeah, that made sense. "Sorry. Anyways, I've got to go."

"Okay." Jack replied, and urged back into the alley back to the Main Street. 

Gabriel slipped the business card gradually into his jacket pocket. Well, that was an experience. All in all, he just wanted to do what he had to do, and get out of the area and never come back.

He looked down at his badge. Wow, he sure had been stupid. His name was right there, on the silver sliver;

'Reyes' was the name that was engraved on the pin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lololol this introduction was interesting to write! I'm planning to make drafts tonight to figure out where everything is going... 
> 
> I hope this isn't too short!! I tried to add details where I saw fit.
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> \- Jacob


	3. The Crime Scene

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The scene was set, but not as expected, and it was the opposite of a relief.

There were at least three cop and two civilian cars outside the once boarded entrance to the subway. Not only was the bashed in gate bars that shielded the entrance nerving, but more anxiously was the sign of something terrible gone horribly wrong more evident and urgent. 

Both the cop and civilian cars were smashed, totaled, possibly beyond use, as if they had collided with each other a couple of times. Dents lined the doors, and on one of the police vehicles, the drivers door was completely torn off, laying against the wall of a room, where Gabriel presumed inside was one of the security offices or ticket box. 

He gulped, examining the inside of the cars. There was a major sign of struggle. A couple seat belts were snapped, and glass shards from the windows were scattered in the floorboards. There was no way he could tell from what he saw of what could have happened. There were no bullet holes, there was no blood. Just abandoned cars. If it was a collision, where were any other responders? Where was the ambulance, since it all looked so bad that someone had to have been taken away? Everything was so still, like a grim painting by Tim Burton himself. There was no one anywhere. 

It was almost like the scene was laid out, or as if it had been there for longer than he thought. It couldn't have been, there was no reason why Liao would report an old incident. 

The sky began to get dark, and the shady back street stirred his anxiety. He just wanted to go home. Maybe he should just leave and call Liao and say that no one was there, and call Jack and tell him that he didn't know what to tell him. 

Then, Gabriel's head turned to the station. He could barely see the inside of it; what he could see was the stairs that led down to a 'waiting' room, but only faintly.

Gabriel tried to look away, but couldn't seem to. He took his phone from his pocket, being careful to not knock Jack's business card out of it, and turned it on. 

He tried to call Liao, but the call instantly cut off. No signal at all. Gabriel grimaced, turning his phone back off and shoving it. 'Great,' he thought, 'no signal, on an abandoned street, in front of an abandoned station. Because, why not?"

He began to urge towards the station gates. Perhaps the policemen had followed the suspects down into the subway. That was probably it. He would go see if they needed any help, and then he would go home. 

Gabriel took his hand and felt at the gate bars. Still, after all those years that they must have been there, useless, they were stiff. He felt at a dent around the area they seemed to have been kicked open, but the gap of the door was extremely wide. 

That's when Gabriel peered down the stairs, and spotted what had ripped through it. 

There was another cop car, ripped in two, at the bottom of the lengthy stairs. 

Gabriel eyes widened and his heart quaked. There was no possible way that this just happened, but, from the smoke coming from the cars engine, it was obvious that it did. If the civilians had went down into the subway, the police certainly had a head start. 

Should he report back to the station? What was he supposed to do? 

"Hello?", he yelled, "Police; Officer Reyes reporting!" 

No reply. "Damn.", Gabriel toyed at his gloves and took them off, and then began to rub a this knuckles. The situation was so awkward. He had to do something. 

Gabriel started inching to the wreck, waving thick, black smoke from his eyes, trying to see the car. He could see red light, like a fire. He moved away, swatting the smoke, and got his police flashlight out. Switching it on, he almost dropped it, seeing large claw streaks through the hood of the car. 

Claw streaks. On a wrecked vehicle. 

No, Gabriel was not dealing with no Marvel shit. No DC comic shit. He was not going to be transported into a horror movie when all he wanted to do was buy a wrapped loaf of bread and go home. 

He started coughing from the car's fog and backed away. Gabriel's head pounded as he looked around. This station wasn't a special one, not like the one on the Main Street. However, where he was seemed like just one of the exits. 

He saw the signs for the near platforms on the walls around him. He saw the ticket booths, and the mirror of the one sided view security room, smashed. 

Gabriel laughed to himself, without any joy. 'Okay, Liao. Let's contact your units.'

As much as he did not want to, he followed the spots of ash that led him to another flight of stairs. Gabriel could see another light at the bottom, but when he got down there it was only a wall lantern; the light being on was strange, since surely the power would have be  
cut off since the station was unused. The metro looked rather revolting; its walls were covered with mold and age, and the benches along the wall were wilted or caved in. Everything in the station seemed tossed around, old tickets and pamphlets flickering in the beam of his dim flashlight. The walls were covered with graffiti like the alley, but most of it appeared either rushed or cut off. 

The platform was desolate, which was a strange sight to see in the city he lived in. Usually, the platforms would be packed worse than the subway cars. 

Gabriel shone his flashlight around, spotting trash, like empty spray cans or boxes and wrappers. He also saw ash, dripping around the columns and over the side of the platform, falling onto the tracks. His stomach irked as he saw an orange glint on the tracks. 

Suddenly, he felt drawn to the edge. He felt obliged to look down onto the tracks. They were rusted, and also littered with cans and plastic bags. Gabriel saw a round badge, no bigger than his thumb. He stepped down onto the tracks to get a closer look. 

It was the symbol he had seen on the wall a little way from the station; the white circle with a orange slit down the middle, the graffiti. For some reason, the symbol had been worthy of a badge. Maybe it was from a show? 

He picked it up, feeling the silver. How long had it been there? Not that long, he was sure. 

Gabriel heard a noise. His eyes warily looked up. Perhaps someone came back to the station, the cops, or the civilians. Perhaps, even, it could be Jack. 

Then, he heard screeching, like wheels on the creaky tracks. There was no way. This station had been abandoned. Although he could not believe it, the sound was getting louder, and closer. 

He jolted when he heard the whistle, and fell backwards when he saw the light. Small but bright, little balls of headlights came from the dark tunnel to his right, from a subway train that should not exist. 

He began to try to crawl away. His legs felt paralyzed. Gabriel knew he should get up and scramble to the platform, but he couldn't seem to motivate himself enough. He was frightened at the train as if a deer in the headlights. 

His gripped his fists, and hissed out a cry as the back of the pin dug into his palms. He felt his hand pulsating a drop of blood, but he did not drop the pin. His eyes swayed straight into the headlights of the oncoming train. 

It hit him head on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's getting good~ 
> 
> Also, please tell me! Since I write sorta quick, do you want me to finish a chapter and then wait for a few days after I finish to post, or post right away? Also, sorry these chapters are so short. When I get into the next chapter, I will have a lot of explaining to do, so they'll be longer :^)
> 
> Thanks!  
> \- Jacob


	4. Kidnapped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A great deciever, yet maybe not intentionally.

It was a split second. Gabriel did not feel any pain at all, which was very strange since he recently sat helplessly and foolishly on tracks as a train collided with him, in which he reminded himself, the train that should and could not exist. Overall, an entire police unit should not just disappear, leaving behind an unexplained literal wreck of a waste, either.

Wherever he was, it was dark. Wether heaven or hell, he had at least expected it to be bright, sun or fire. He did not feel like he was laying on a cloud, but not hard ground either. He did not feel flames tickling his skin, or rather, splitting it open like a hotdog in a microwave. Under him felt warm, medium. He began to register something thin above him, that grew heavier as he thought about it. Should he even open his eyes? He was not afraid to admit that he was a little scared to. 

He opened his eyes after a minute of procrastinating. Soft light filled his senses, and no matter how dim it was, it still made him wince. Gabriel registered a headache, either coming, or present. He realized that he was laying in a bed. Maybe everything was a dream. 

He would like to believe that, that is, if he was in his own bed, because he remembered that his walls were beige, not baby blue. His sheets were black, not red. His curtains were also black, definitely not that obnoxious gold. 

This was not his room, therefore not in his house.

It didn't take long for his police officer instincts to kick in. He sat up quickly, his head jerking and aching more. He let out a curse and scrambled out of the bed, as well as almost trip over the blankets. He dropped something from his hand. 

It was the pin, or badge, or whatever. The one with the orange stripe. Gabriel spotted it and picked it up, but quickly shoved it in his pocket when he heard a creak from down the hall, supposedly, outside of the door, followed by rushed footsteps. 

Gabriel quickly looked down. Yes, he was still wearing clothes, although his jacket had been removed and folded nicely on the back of a chair in the room, and his shoes had been sat by the doorway. His police belt was on a desk in front of the window, which blinds were tilted. 

The door opened, and Gabriel felt his jaw physically drop. 

There stood Jack, the business-card, probably-pretentious, ken-doll-face man, his own mouth agape, as if surprised to hear Gabriel wake up. 

Gabriel accessed the situation. He assumed he was in Jack's house. There was no need to feel safe, yet also no reason to trust him. Gabriel wondered if he had been drugged or not, because there was no way. It wasn't like he had shared a drink with this guy. Maybe he had just passed out somewhere, but how? Did he pass out on the tracks, after having the illusion that a train that shouldn't exist was going to run slap over him? That seemed like the most reliable theory, and the most...calming. 

Jack wasn't wearing the suit jacket anymore, but the tee shirt and khaki. The man looked as if he had been cooking, since he did have a bit of flour on his pants, which, yes, Gabriel was looking down at. He didn't for long, because that was just weird. 

"Hey.", Jack began after a pause, which seemed like forever in their locked eyes. "I'm sorry if I startled you. Again. Gosh, I just..."

"Why...", Gabriel began. He knew he had to ask this is the coolest way possible. Having anger management issues and waking up in a strangers house was not a good combination. "Why am I here?"

"I never got a call from you. I know you said I couldn't, but," Jack shrugged, an honest, goofy smile on his face. Gabriel felt his heart thud, but concentrated to the task on hand (figuring out why the hell he was at this mans house) to the fullest extent he could manage. "I went to the station, and got curious. I went inside, and, wow, I'm glad I did. You were passed out on the tracks, must've fell or something..."

Jack paused, coughing. His brow deepened, and Gabriel was honestly shocked. Jack did not look happy in the slightest. "Did something...someone attack you?"

"Huh?" Gabriel, confused, ran a hand through his own hair. He noticed he was not wearing his beanie. 

"I mean, whoever...", Jack seemed to be breathing oddly. Gabriel was about to ask if he was alright, but decided not to. "You know. Whoever caused the crime, or whatever, that happened."

"No.", Gabriel said. "No, but I..." He wondered if he should mention the train, and the wreck. Jack didn't seem to bring that part up, which was a bit unexpected. Usually, if someone sees large claw marks burned into smashed, shriveled cars, they'd want to mention it. 

"Did something happen?", Jack inquired. God, he was seriously a noisy ass. However, that wasn't a bad thing. Gabriel wanted to talk about the weird shit. 

"First, an entire unit disappeared. They should be there near the wreck or whatever.", Gabriel began, thinking as he went. "Second, a train came at me, when I went..."

The important topic was the pin he found. He chose not to say anything. 

"On the tracks.", he recovered. 

"A train?" Jack mumbled. "But, I thought the station was closed down."

"Yeah, me too." Gabriel replied, sighing, clutching the side of his head. Jack noticed. "It was just my imagination. Guess I passed out. I don't much like creepy places."

Jack nodded. "Okay, I understand that. I, uh, have some aspirin if you'd like to take some, if you have a headache or anything."

"Yeah, uh, that's be nice." Gabriel nodded. Jack went to leave the room, but Gabriel continued to stop him. 

"How'd you get me here?"

Jack turned to look back at the officer. "I drove my car around to the station." He didn't seem so absolute. Gabriel didn't question. It wasn't like he could teleport or fly, and it wasn't like he could either. 

"Oh."

Jack awkwardly bit his lip, but it did not make the process any less attractive. Gabriel would've smacked himself against the head but, firstly, it hurt as hell already, and secondly, he was right in front of a man that seemed to not be able to do much more than making Gabriel's pants feel tighter. 

"If you want, you can leave the bed the way it is.", Jack began, referencing how Gabriel had twisted the sheets in the effort to scramble out of them. "You may come to the living room, or the kitchen. I can cook you something, if you'd like. It's near dinner time."

"Already asking me out to dinner?" Gabriel smirked, feeling a little bit better after the explanation, although admittedly, something did not feel right. Maybe it was how generous Jack was being. Maybe Gabriel should just learn to shut up and trust people. 

Jack seemed a little off at the comment, but Gabriel couldn't tell if it was in a good way of a bad away. He had a soft chuckle, but stood there in the doorway and examined Gabriel's face a little. 

Gabriel assumed he probably was looking over the scars, was probably wondering how he had gotten them. Various reasons, but none he would share with a stranger. Gabriel wondered briefly if he'd ever call Jack a friend. Hopefully.

"You're very kind, Jack.", he said. "I am sure, though, I've already bothered you enough."

Jack shook his head. "Oh, no, you haven't at all! If you want to leave, you're of course welcome to, but I was just about to make dinner myself, and since you did go to the trouble of going into that..." He paused, shuffling his feet as if uncomfortable in his own house. "...place, it's the least I could do."

Gabriel thought about it for a moment. He was getting a little hungry, and anything would be better than his dumb, plain turkey sandwich. He would trust Jack until proven he should not otherwise. "Sure. That's fine with me."

"Alright." Jack regained a smile, as if he hadn't seemed so out of it and concerned a moment ago. "I'll be out in the kitchen in a moment. Please excuse the mess."

With that, the 'doll' left the room. Gabriel could scratch off pretentious from the mental list of things he could call Jack, and marked 'kind' and, bitterly, 'far too attractive for a white stick'.

In a way, Gabriel kinda got his bread. No matter how weird that sounded to him, it was better than thinking about how everything that day had went wrong. 

The officer did not put back on anything and left his stuff in the room he woke up in, to be as polite as he could in someone else's household. He also made the bed before he left, no matter what Jack said. 

There was an angel above the doorway, engraved in a thin, metal plate. Gabriel felt his heart sink. Jack was probably religious, an Gabriel, being an atheist, was seriously a difficult thing to adapt. 

He found his way down the hall and into the living room. He didn't sit down on the couch at first, and instead looked about the room. 

It was a pretty normal room, as normal as a white families living room could get. There was a tree in the corner, for Xmas, which Gabriel had totally forgot about because he had simply just wanted to go home and cry over Netflix dramas. There were a couple of gifts under the tree. The was a mystifyingly gorgeous angel topper on it's peak. The rest of the room was mostly beige and brown. The couch looked inviting, and Gabriel noticed how extremely defeated he felt. That happened when you are close to having the shit literally squashed out of you. 

The officer saw a picture on the mantel of the stone fireplace in the center of the room. He went to go get a closer look at it. He could see two people standing side by side, but could not tell who they were. He assumed one was Jack, and the other seemed like a woman. Possibly, his wife, but he did not see a wife in the house or any sign of one. The bedroom he had been in had a twin bed, not nearly big enough for a couple. Perhaps that was his child's room, maybe a son, but again, no sign of any children. Maybe they were out shopping for presents for relatives or something like families did. 

Gabriel sought the root of the problem: the ceiling light. He reached out his hand to shield the top of the frame, but as soon as he did, he had to keep every fiber of himself in composer to keep from screaming. 

His entire palm of his hand was imprinted. His skin was raw in the creases of a circles, and dried blood inched in its trenches. A wide slash ran from his middle finger, down to the joint of his arm, his elbow. 

Jack entered the room and he felt it stiffen. 

"Gabriel, hey..."

The officer realized something.  
"There is no way you know my name, Jack. My badge says 'Reyes'."

Jack seemed to be stunned as if clueless. "I know, but..."

"How do you know my name?" Gabriel repeated, a little sterner. He did not turn his arm to face him, so he could not see what Gabriel was looking at, horrified, but stiff. 

"I..." Jack began. He was clearly at a loss for words, and he should be. The hospitality that Jack had been showing towards Gabriel must have been all a rouse. Jack must have marked him, for whatever purpose he had. "No, please, listen, don't hate me..."

"I'm listening, if you would just hurry the fuck up and tell me how you know my name!" Gabriel yelled, causing Jack to flinch. Gabriel did not pity him, but could feel a queasy anxiety washing over his entire body, as if he was wrong to question, at least so violently. 

"I know your name because I know a lot of things, Gabriel. I'm sorry, if you'd just calm down I'd explain." Jack held up his hands, and Gabriel could see he and a container of pain reliever in them. It seemed so normal, he seemed so normal, but his reply did not at all. 

Gabriel thrust his arm out, and Jack dropped the bottle. His entire face read that he had not seen that before, at least, on his body. 

"What is that, Gabriel...?", he asked as if mortified. "When did that happen? Does it hurt? Why is that in you?"

"Why, do you know what it is, if you're telling me I have to believe that you know everything?" Gabriel retorted, his face contorting into almost desperation. 

"...I know what it is, but I wish I didn't."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooo hard hitting questions. Jack isn't the only one with all the answers, because I'll have them in the next chapter. 
> 
> Jack was originally just a normal guy, but I've figured out that he is not at all. 
> 
> The sigil (you could call it) that is marked on Gabriel is a distortion/parody of the Overwatch emblem. 
> 
> \- Jacob


	5. Dinner With a Stranger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few things are explained.

They talked over dinner, much to Jack's persistence and Gabriel's exhausted compliance. Jack made some soup for Gabriel (who watched him do so nervously), and pulled out a salad for himself. It was typical, Gabriel assumed, or so he would think if he did not doubt knowing anything at all about the man. 

Jack sat in the chair opposite of Gabriel in the dining room. The awkward preparations for the food made it worse on how either of them would approach the situations. 

"I'm a private detective."

"No you're not." Gabriel took a sip of water that he had gotten for himself, still not feeling comfortable with the other. 

"Okay, you got me. I'm a friend of one of your friends-"

"Oh really? No, you're not." Gabriel shut him down again. 

"Fine. I'm a griffin."

"Please, Jack."

"It's not like you'll believe what I actually am, Gabriel. It's no big deal that I know your name." Jack huffed, shoving lettuce and shredded cheddar cheese into his mouth. 

"Actually, quite the contrary. It really does matter." Gabriel replied without any tone of voice. Flat, just like Jack's ass. Not that he had been looking. "That's because you're still a stranger to me. Unless you were sent after me, or whatever, there's no reason why you should know my name."

Jack idly used his fork to play with his food. He didn't say anything for a moment. "If you haven't looked at the card yet, it will tell you that I own a shop. I work with my friend, and we share the income. Ana, the woman I mentioned I was looking for."

"I thought that was a rouse. Does she actually exist, Jack?"  
Gabriel asked, taking a spoonful of chicken broth into his mouth. 

Jack didn't look too happy, which he did not look happy in the first place. This upset expression, though, came across a little different. 

"Yes, she is. I...don't know where she is. She was there, at the station, waiting for me to come back..." Jack abruptly halted his sentence and took a quick sip of sweet tea. 

"Come back?", Gabriel questioned. He sat down his spoon. "What, did she cause the incident?"

"No, no! She didn't cause it..." Jack didn't seem too sure about what he was saying, but Gabriel didn't want to push it any further. "She just...maybe got caught up in it."

"So, why exactly was she at the station? Don't take you as a vandal." Gabriel commented, although he sincerely didn't know what to take Jack as, much less this 'Ana' that he'd only heard about and not seen. 

"No, we don't do that. We like to...explore, and stuff. We like abandoned places." Jack said, sounding a bit more truthful in what he was saying. 

"Oh. Well, anyways...", Gabriel cleared his throat to boost an attempt to reverse the subject. "That shop you and Ana run together...what is it?"

"You mean...yeah, our shop. It's a...", Jack seemed to be searching for the word, but once Gabriel had realized that he was actually stalling, it still made it no better or believable. "An oddity, you'd probably think."

"I got hit by a ghost train and my arm has a gash of a graffiti tag in it." Gabriel reminded him. 

"Oh. Yeah. Well, it's not so much a shop as it is a...confession. No, it's a..metaphysical." Jack concluded as if he didn't know, but he also looked rather dazed. "Sorry, just lost the word."

"I thought you knew everything, Jack."

Jack watched as Gabriel sipped his water as if pleased with seeing him slip up, and frowned. "I do, really! Just...something feels weird."

"A lot of things do, Jack, after earlier."

"I know. That's something I certainty know." Jack replied, and Gabriel did not want to know what could have possibly happened to him. 

"Anyways, 'metaphysical'? That's a magic shop, yeah?"

"Yes...Ana and I serve as counsellors to the magickally or spiritually gifted, but we also sell a few things. Herbs, candles, stuff like that. We also do tarot readings, and—"

"What?" Gabriel interjected. 

"Huh?" Jack stopped talking. 

"I thought you were a Christian." Gabriel admitted. 

Jack scoffed, and Gabriel was half relieved and half confused. At least a Gabriel did not have to be concerned that Jack might usher in a religious based conversation. 

"No? Why would you think that?" Jack covered his mouth, almost bashful at the idea. His reaction was strange, but damn, was it cute. 

"Because.", Gabriel sat down his spoon on the side of the bowl. "On the doorway of the room I woke up in, there was a little angel. And out here," he pointed into the living room. "You have tons of decorations. It was an assumption."

"What other assumptions do you have about me?" Jack questioned, delighted at the idea of hearing observations, regardless of them being right or wrong. At least this was a chance to set a few things straight with him. 

"Well, aren't you married?"

"To?"

"I don't know, I only know this 'Ana'. There was a picture of you and a lady on the fireplace, though." Gabriel told him, shrugging. "Took a guess. You seem like the type."

"Have you seen me, Gabriel?" Jack laughed, and it was the most heavenly sound the officer knew he would ever hear in his sinful life. "I'm not exactly a woman's man."

"Then what are you?" Gabriel asked, on accident. 

"Something else." Jack confided, although it was almost immediately obvious what he meant. Or, could mean, but Gabriel was not going to let himself think something wrong about Jack ever again. 

Gabriel smiled a little and looked down at his soup. Jack noticed. "You want anything else? I can make some more soup if you'd like."

"No, thank you. I'm fine." 

Gabriel drank the rest of his water and Jack finished his salad. As the man put the last cucumber in his mouth, he asked, "Gabriel. Are you a Christian?"

"Nah...", the officer returned, setting down his glass. "My parents were."

"My mother was." Jack shared, beginning to pick up the bowls and glasses and head into the kitchen. Gabriel offered to help but Jack politely declined, telling him that he was a guest.  
"Never mind that. Do you celebrate Xmas?"

"Yeah, me and my friends at the station do. I don't have the time or money to put up decorations, and no where to store them since I live in an apartment." 

Jack put the bowls in the sink, but seemed too interested to actually wash them. He placed his hands on either side of the sink, looking over the kitchen bar over into the dining room. "Do you celebrate Xmas with family, though? You have a wife, and children?"

Gabriel did not mind all the inquiries, since he had asked a lot, and had much more to ask of Jack, anyways. "No, my family lives in Mexico, and I'm not a...woman's man, either. My niece likes to try and tell me I am, though, that everyone's falling for me." He joked, and could almost swear he saw Jack mutter something to himself, with a grin on his face. 

"And you?" Gabriel started, standing up and walking over to the bar. "What about your family?"

"Complicated." Jack sighed, loosing the grin instantly. It was so shocking how quickly he could do so. "That's fine. I have Ana and a few other friends. Are you my friend, Gabriel?"

Gabriel hadn't thought about that. Was he Jack's friend? Would he be Jack's friend, ever? Damn, he wanted to, but Gabriel hated having stupid crushes, real or not. Besides, it wasn't all about how every time he looked at Jack he felt himself getting hot and bothered, which was odd since he was the plainest white boy that could ever exist. It was that Jack had something if not a few that he was seemingly hiding from him. Being a police officer, it was not a good thing for people to hide things. 

"Yes." He answered a little too quickly, not even sparing any time at all to think about what he was going to say. He stumbled out a weak, "I mean..."

"I know." Jack replied. Gabriel knew that Jack knew, because that seemed to be the only think he would protest. 

Gabriel began to say something again, but Jack cocked his head, hands stiffly clasping together at chest height. 

"Something wrong—"

"Hush." Jack told him, slowly backing away from the counter. His eyes fluttered around the room. He was totally on edge and Gabriel would call him crazy if he didn't believe that he was miraculously still in a dream. 

Jack walked out of the kitchen and Gabriel followed him with his eyes. Jack's house was mostly open space, so Gabriel could do so. 

The other crept around in the living room, eyes swaying onto object that Gabriel had not seen before. Candles on the mantel, with small, elongated sticks of gems sitting beside them. Jack touched briefly a small stack of playing cards on the coffee table. 

Eventually, Jack stiffened, and a second later, there was a clambering at the front door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder who that is! UwU
> 
> Also, if you catch the griffin reference, you're amazing haha
> 
> But if you think Jack is a witch, you're correct, but that's not all he is. ;)
> 
> -Jacob


	6. I'm Not Crazy, You Are

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth spills.

"Ana, knock it off, you scared me!" 

Gabriel still stood by the kitchen bar, set unease by Jack's recent behaviour. However, he was relieved to hear that it wasn't another ghost train, or whatever it could have been; it was Jack's friend he had heard so much yet so little about, Ana. 

She was a stout woman, probably about 4'11", and she was old. She looked as if she could be Gabriel's grandmother, and it was odd that she and Jack were friends. An old lady exploring abandoned, dangerous places with such a young man? He would expect to see her in a cottage baking cookies with her chihuahua. Other than that, she had long, silky grey hair, but it was obviously tucked back into her blue fleece jacket. She looked middle eastern, soft light brown skin, and not too wrinkled, although she appeared to be in her early 70s, at least. There was one aspect of Ana that stood out to the officer the most; the fresh appearing tattoo under her eye, an Eye of Horus. It was not faded one bit. Her eye was a bright honey colour, and that's when he realized her other eye was covered with an eye patch.

Gabriel, however, did not understand why Jack had behaved the way he did when Ana was at the door, even though she hadn't even knocked yet. He hadn't heard any other noise, or anything, that he would expect anyone to react like a search dog to. Jack was a different sort, he supposed. Gabriel did not want to ask what she had been doing to scare him, though. 

Ana laughed heartedly as she came through the door, shutting it behind her as she began to take off her boots and, mind, ripped coat. She hung the tattered fleece onto a rack that stood beside the doorway. "Well, that was nothing less than hectic, Jack."

"Yeah?", Jack mumbled in return, meekly smiling over at Gabriel. 

Ana noticed the officer and tilted her head. "Oh, is this one of your 'demon' friends?", she asked. Looking Gabriel up and down, she faltered. "Or...incu..."

"Haha, no, Ana—" Jack rushed out, quickly shaking his head to Gabriel. "It's a gaming group, not...hey, Ana, could I speak to you for a moment?"

"Sure...", the woman began, a sickened expression filling her aged face. She didn't tear her eyes off of Gabriel as Jack took her down the hall and into a room. 

The officer went into the living room and sat down, figuring that whenever the two were done, it might be best for him to get his stuff, thank Jack, and take his leave. He still didn't have fresh bread, and although he had just eaten, a sandwich would then have the possibility to be waiting for him tomorrow. 

He turned his arm over again, wincing at how painful the gash appeared. It was strange to him that he couldn't remember how the symbol was inscribed onto him, when, or where. It fucking should have hurt, but he couldn't recall that part either. Gabriel paused for a moment, recalling what Ana had thought he was. A 'demon' friend...that, he certainly wasn't. At least, he didn't think he was. Jack, however...well, Jack seemed to be more like an angel than anything else. The comment had probably been just meaningless, but it rubbed Gabriel the wrong way. 

Ana appeared again. She crept slowly towards the couch where Gabriel was. The woman looked more lazed than she just as of recent had been, and her eye was peering down at his arm. Jack must have told her about it. "Hello, Gabriel, is it? My name is Ana. I'm sorry if I made you nervous or anything." Gabriel shook his head; no, she only confused him. "May I...may I see your arm?"

Gabriel extended it towards her, and she took his wrist between both hands, small, and soft padded. She scanned over the cut, and she definitely did not admire it. She grimaced. "Oh. Oh, Gabriel. You have not messed with the wrong people, have you?"

He tilted his head. "No, I don't believe I have, Ma'am..." His arm began to feel tingly as she ran a finger, tracing the now scarring figure. 

"Oh, but you have, Gabriel. You just don't know it." Ana hesitated to look back at Jack, who had just now came back into the main room. She sat down beside Gabriel and continued to touch his arm. Surprisingly, it did not sting. He felt nothing at all. "Gabriel, do you have another name?"

"No?" Gabriel replied, eyes narrowing. It wasn't honest. He could tell that Ana knew this. She, thankfully, did not push the subject. 

"Dear," she called him, her eye meeting both of his at once. "Are you aware of who you are?"

"I'm an officer."

"More so aware?"

"I'm an officer who likes coffee and hates dogs."

"Gabriel..."

"I'm a biracial, homosexual, transsexual male police officer who likes coffee, hates milk, hates dogs, but loves cats. I don't get a lot of sleep at night and usually end up passing out. I was born in Mexico and moved to America when I was eleven." Gabriel spilled, feeling as if he was beginning to sweat. "Is that enough?"

Ana shook her head and Gabriel huffed. Jack seemed almost surprised but not distasteful, and sat in a rocking chair that sat next to the Xmas tree. What more could she possibly want from him? 

Ana once again glanced back to Jack, who took a moment to nod slowly. She turned back to Gabriel, and asked one more question. 

"You are aware that you are adopted, yes?"

Gabriel shuddered. Now, how in the hell could she have known that? He nodded, purely on edge. Even as an officer, he could not seem to disguise this emotion. 

"Your mother and father threw you out when you were seventeen. Do you remember why?"

"I was caught sleeping with someone I didn't even know, it wasn't my fault—"

"Yes, it was." Ana retorted. Jack looked as if he wanted to say something, but halted abruptly as his friend continued. 

"You don't even know me, how are you talking like you know me?"

"I know everyone. So does Jack. Just like we know everyone that walks through our shop's doors; they usually have a problem. A special problem that only professional guidance could cure." Ana informed him, without looked up at his frustrated face. "Jack saw you and knew you needed help even if you didn't or don't. Gabriel, it was your fault, but not on your own nature."

Ana did not take a moment for Gabriel to recover or speak. Jack didn't try to stop her.

"Gabriel, you are, for the most part, physically human. You are also and incubus. You are also a wraith."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is short because of how odd it is. I hope that is not an issue. Also, I haven't got a chapter out in a while, so I felt as if anything would be good.


	7. The All Seeing Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some things are better kept a secret.

The fact that Ana said this and Jack let her like it was a normal occurrence made Gabriel nauseous. Where would Ana even get the idea to accuse him of being a fairytale villain? He was no where near the creatures she said he was!

Gabriel sat there silently, eyes unable to break the state that he held with Ana. "Which...which one is the incubus exactly?"

"An incubus has sexual intercourse with it's victims during their sleep." Ana stated clear as day. Gabriel almost laughed out of hysterical disbelief. She acted as if everything was so normal, when it was quite the contrary! Though, he still wondered why in the hell Jack was going alone with it, without interjecting. 

Gabriel glanced to the man who sat eased in the chair across the room. He was literally reclining in it, as if he didn't seem to mind that Ana was talking as if she was drunk. Then again, Gabriel didn't know. Ana first had called him a demon, after all. 

"And a...a wraith? What is that even supposed to be?" Gabriel mumbled, biting the inside of his mouth. This time, Jack answered. 

He sat up in the rocking chair. "A wraith is an entity that is dead, but hasn't died."

"What?"

"Like that TV show with the zombies. Like a zombie, but ghostly." Jack huffed as if he was the one that was righteously annoyed. He crossed his legs. "This about the cold, and a dark shadow. There. That's like, twenty five of you."

"What?" Gabriel asked again, but Jack didn't say another word, neither did Ana. Gabriel stood up. "I don't believe you, I'm going to be honest. You're a nice lady, and you're nice too, Jack, but that's nonsense. Im not a wraith and I'm absolutely not an...incubus or whatever!"

Ana stood as well, much shorter than Gabriel. He looked down upon her as neutral as possible in the situation. "Gabriel, then how do you explain the look on your adoptive parents faces when you went through the wall without damaging it at all? What about how you kept ending up outside without moving from your bed? How do you explain that, Gabriel? You're thinking about it right now."

Gabriel's spine tingled as if a possum crossed over his future grave a couple times before shitting on it and pissing on the ground vase's plastic flowers. How did she know that he was thinking about that? Did she also know that he didn't know how he did that? He didn't have any explanations. 

Gabriel paused before picturing a naked man. He was pasty, scrawny. Had blonde hair and a sea for eyes. 

Ana paled. "Gabriel, stop it!", her voice raised. He would've chuckled if he wasn't so confused. Now, he knew for real she was telling the truth, at least about being able to read his thoughts, which was fantastic. He wondered if Jack could too. 

Jack was covering his mouth, trying to hold in a laugh. "Was that...!...was that me?" He burst finally. Ana crossed her arms and Gabriel smirked. 

Then, the officer frowned. "Okay, seriously though, Ana; you have an amazing gift. Jack; please disregard that. Both of you, thanks for everything, but I still don't believe you."

"How do you want me to make you believe?" Ana asked. If only it was that simple. Gabriel knew himself well, and he knew the truth in himself being the most stubborn mule on Earth. There was no way he would believe in what they were saying. 

"I'd probably need some drugs first."

Ana swallowed, looking back at Jack. "..."

"I wasn't serious. I'm an officer and I could arrest you for that, so don't even offer it." Gabriel informed them and Ana sighed. 

The woman thought for a moment before suggesting. "Well, Jack and I have agreed." Gabriel didn't quite get what she was talking about. Jack and her hadn't spoke a word to each other in the past few minutes. "We will tell you who we really are."

"...crazy people? Because I'm not sure if would surprise me."  
At least, that is what Gabriel wanted to say, but didn't. He didn't have to. Ana was staring straight at him. 

"No, Gabriel, just listen." She softly commented, her eye gazing yet stern at him, feeling up his aura as she did. Very shaky, but tall. Tall on the inside. Tall on the outside. 

"It will be difficult to comprehend at first, and I absolutely understand that. This is something that you must comprehend, and will, in time. I'm going to say it as simply as I can, so stop forcing yourself to not hear me as you should." Ana instructed her shoulders flatlining. 

The old woman before Gabriel reached up, and removed her eyepatch in one simple pull. The officer winced at a beam of light that seemed to have been pulled from the ceiling down to her, covering the empty space on her face for a slight second. Then, it faltered, and Gabriel could see another eye, no, two, slitted and staring back at him. They stacked above each other and were scared greatly, full white, no pupil, no iris. As he watched her in wonder, her skin seemed to reverse aging. Her hair became a soft black. Her intact eye shined and it's tattoo glimmered. He was knocked breathless when she spoke. 

"I am a Virtue. A Virtue is a type of Angel that watches over all and sets the universe into balance. I have been removed from my seat in Heaven, for Jack needed my help. I am a physic now." Ana then noticeably shook, her entire body quivering as if a crowd in a stand doing a wave. "I'm sorry, I cannot keep this up. The Angels can see it." 

Ana then returned to covering her two eyes, and her hair turned white again, her skin wrinkled slightly, and her tattoo went stiff. She seemed as she had been a minute or so ago, Gabriel couldn't remember. 

Jack was perfectly fine, and Gabriel wasn't. The officer stood there in an emotion that even himself couldn't quite figure out. Bluntly, he was confused, because first of all, no one should have more than two eyes. Secondly, no one should suddenly start de-aging and shining. He gulped and gestured over to Jack. Might as well get it over with. "...what are you, then...?"

Jack stood. "Look, I already see how...taken aback you are about Ana. I'm not going to show you unless I absolutely have to."

Ana interrupted him, her visible brow furrowing. "Hey, I thought you said you were going to tell him if I did!"

"I will, Ana. I just don't think it's the right time yet." Jack replied, shuffling. Gabriel shrugged; he didn't want to see anything else; his head was already starting to throb. Jack looked at him worriedly, and Gabriel could've sworn he'd seen his eyes sparkle for just a moment before he noticed his head had eased, as well as the muscles in his body that had been tense. 

Gabriel took a moment before saying, "I don't believe you, still, but I honestly have no other choice." Ana nodded, since he really didn't. You can't experience something as strange as that and still have a choice to forget what you saw. Gabriel, at least, wasn't so ignorant as to try and pretend he didn't see it. "So...what now?"

"I think the next step is telling you about the Mark that's on your wrist." Jack commented. 

"That would be a good start." Gabriel confirmed. 

Jack went over to Gabriel and Ana stepped away as he sat down with the officer. He took his arm loosely and examined the Mark again, following its creases with his baby blue eyes. He looked as if he was trying to undo the casting with sight alone, but it did not do anything. Gabriel was a little surprised that it hadn't. Jack then looked over to Ana before saying. "No, it's not the Mark of the Beast, Gabriel. Me and Ana have seen that and this is not it. It is very close...but not of demons. We haven't had the chance to take time and study the Mark, but now, we will have to."

Ana chimed in as she took Jack's previous sitting settlement in the rocking chair. "You've seen it in graffiti. That was minor cultist work. There was tons of cult activity in the subway, but when we got there, the fools had long sense evacuated. That's how we knew what was coming. First, the cult's leader. We didn't expect you, however."

"Wait, I'm the cult's leader?" Gabriel burst, his eyes wide. Why would a cult worship him? Summon him? Whatever they did to get the Mark on his arm?

Thankfully, Jack shook his head. "No, the leader was...the leader was someone not worthy of their worship, at least like that." Gabriel squinted, wondering why Jack was sounding lightly touchy about the subject. "You just happened to appear after he did. I was hoping I'd ward you from the station, but I also wanted to know if Ana was okay."

"I had luckily gotten out of there with my skin.", Ana added, before clicking her tongue. "The cult would pay a high price for that bidding."

Gabriel did not want to understand what she meant. Instead, he sighed. "Could I at least know who their leader is?"

"It's not important." Jack cut in before Ana could spill anything. She closed her mouth and rolled her eyes, like the behaviour was normal. Jack didn't seem the type to get so protective, but Gabriel had just began to realize that he kept thinking about Jack as if he had known him for a longer time than barely two hours. 

"It's pretty damn important if I have his Mark on my arm for no reason." Gabriel replied, harshly with no regrets on being harsh. 

Jack glared at him, and that was certainly an expression he had never expected to see coming from him. Gabriel squirmed but was still, regardless, waiting for the answer that he wanted. Jack finally spoke, "A fate demon, Gabriel. That's what he is."

"Jesus." Gabriel breathed out hard. "What, did he Mark me because of fate or something? Does that mean I'm going to die or something?"

Neither Ana or Jack spoke. "Great!" Gabriel expressed. "This is totally what I needed."

"Do you believe us now, Gabriel?" Ana asked slowly. "Your situation is the first we've seen. Although yes, he did mark you, you're not going to die."

"We won't let that happen." Jack confirmed. Gabriel furrowed his brows. No, he didn't believe. Ana looked at him pleadingly. Gabriel thought, 'Listen, can you stop prying in my head every minute? My head keeps hurting and Jack keeps making it stop hurting and that's hurting even more.' Ana whispered an unmoved, "Sorry."

Jack smirked to both of them. "I guess it would be best to leave the house for a while." Gabriel tilted his head. Jack continued. "Since Ana removed her Shield, it drew a light down from heaven. Ana's light is stronger than most of the other Angels, and since there's a missing Virtue, surely someone will come by to look. However, they can't trace us more than here, so if we leave now they might just believe it to have been a Guardian."

"Isn't that dangerous though?" Gabriel inquired. "For you, for Angels knowing where you live?"

"They don't know that."

"But don't you see everything?"

Jack answered, "I am able to see everything, yes, but I've been living on Earth for over five years now. Not once has a Hunter came after me, much less any regular Angel. They won't mess with me. There are other people that will, but they've never shown up directly at my door."

Gabriel nodded, and it sort of made sense to him. He assumed that if all this weird shit was really happening, he had to somehow accept it. Ana smiled and he grimaced right back. 

"Where would we be going?" Gabriel asked. 

Jack shrugged. "We could show you the shop, if you'd like. Our assistant should be there waiting for us to return; hope we haven't worried her."

"The shop's open? It's almost dark." Gabriel tilted his head, although he did admit to himself that he did want to see their shop. He'd never went to one like it before; hell, he didn't even remember if he'd ever heard of a metaphysical.

"Yeah. We were going to work of a few things tonight before closing up, so it's a practical 24/7 night. This happens often for our shop." Jack responded as he stood from the chair, it creaking and swaying. 

Gabriel nodded. Jack offered, "If you'd like, you can take your things now, with you, or I can bring you back here later."

Gabriel didn't get what he meant for a moment but remembered his beanie and utility belt in the room he had woken up in. He denied and said he could come back later, to not take up any time. He was honestly scared of Angel Hunters or whatever it was Jack was mentioning; if they were anything like Ana, he would probably go blind with all the shining and the glorious ambience. 

Jack nodded and he and Ana went to the door with Gabriel. The Virtue told him that the shop was a brisk walk from where Jack lived. When they left through the front door, Gabriel, accustomed to cities and suburban neighborhoods just out of city limits, he then found himself in an unexpected and unfamiliar location. 

Apparently, Jack had somehow managed to pick up a passed out Gabriel, put him in his car, and whist he was still unconscious, bring him all the way to his house. 

Which, of course, was in back-woods fucking no where.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took a while. I'm ready to start on the next one, though >:^)


	8. Of Spirits And Men

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The shop is neat but Gabriel is a mess.

They were telling the truth, though; although they were, in fact, in a woodland area far away from any other houses and were in their lonesome a neighborhood of one house, the shop was a brisk walk from their house. There was a dirt path carded into the ground that led through the forest and out to the road in under eight minutes depending on how quick your pace was. Along the way, Ana pointed out her favorite bird watching areas and Jack pointed out where fae lived, which was in small crowded patches that were covered densely with wild mushrooms. Gabriel had suddenly grown into the fairy tale he was convinced by the two others that he would possibly play a great role, regardless how he felt about the situation. Tall tales were still tall, after all. 

Once they reached the road, Jack and Ana took him a few minutes down the side of it. Walking along what Gabriel recognized as a state highway (one in which he had never seen before) made him nervous, especially at the hours it was, but no cars passed by them. Eventually, they came upon a row of small cottage-type buildings that were lodged into a cut out rectangle of the woods. There were three buildings; one, Gabriel learned from Ana, starting on the far left, was a diner; the second was a small motel and tourist rest station; the last was the Metaphysical. It's name attracted Gabriel, "Of Spirits and Men".

There was a car out front, and Gabriel could see a decal on the back of the car by a tall street light. It was a decal of the Flag of Mexico. The officer couldn't help but feel a little giddy. Though there were many Latinos like him in the city, at least he had a sense of familiarity out here in no where. 

When they entered the shop, a bell chimed from the top of the doorway. Ana and Jack went on past Gabriel, and Jack went to one of the back rooms. Gabriel began to smell the musky lavender incense that flooded the main room of the shop. It was thick, and washed out the door, carried by warm air that fled about him. Gabriel closed the door as he looked around. 

Next to him on his right was a long counter, where the register was. There was a few jars with things such as bracelets and candies that you could buy on the way out. There were a couple tiny potted cacti and flowers on the other side as well. Behind the counter was a stack of shelves with more containers, filled with all sorts of herbs and labeled. 

The rest of the store had back-to-back shelving with various arrays of merchandise. The first row had all types of books, packed full of journals, study books such as Wiccan and Pagan studies, collections in spirits and creatures, collections on crystals and herb apothecary, collections on spells and different types of Craft, and even cookbooks. Gabriel admittedly was interested in looking through a few of the titles he scanned over, but kept walking to the next row. 

There were so many crystals. Organized in colour, varying in size; from birthstones to crystal used in science, there were all sorts covering the two shelves the collection took up. There were even necklaces adorning the crystals, wrapped and dangling on this chain in silver and gold holsters. There were rings, too. 

The next shelves held tarot boxes, and pouches of runes. There were tiny statues of faeries, along with cute little rabbit and frog and various other animal statues. The shelf opposite held bigger items such as medium cauldrons and mortar and pestles, altar mirrors and statues of gods and goddesses. There were candle holders and incense plates and oil burners. The bookcase beside it held a rack of different incense sticks and coloured candles, long, short, thick and skinny. There was a rack below that stretched over a full shelf that held many small bottles of organic oils. 

The shops sold other things, too. Flower crowns, ribbons, little pouches and leather purses, and altar wands (handcrafted, it seemed). Sitting in one corner of the store were full sized caldrons, and on the other side were pots of plants such as full herbs and regular flowers. From the ceiling hung dream catchers, as well as what Gabriel could tell, and from what Ana told him, Japanese lucky birds, made out of brightly patterned origami paper. Ana said that they were handcrafted by one of their patrons and gifted to their shop for good business and happiness. 

The shop certainly had a good aura about it. The area it was located at may have been out of the way of much civilization, but it seemed to have the good business that the little birds promised, since it was running. 

Ana told him that they had a coven that came to meet every Saturday and on special occasions such as Halloween (the sabat variant name, Samhain) and on full moons if no other plans were retained. Ana also had to explain what a coven was, but at least she did not explain 'as-matter-of-a-fact'. She generously informed him a coven was a group of witches that came together to practice their beliefs, and she was known as the High Priestess, the witch that was the most experience in her Craft and leads the coven. 

As Ana was about to begin explaining more about the Craft, they both heard a clatter of heels coming down the hall. Gabriel looked over as she entered the room, followed by Jack. 'She', was a teenage girl in tight blue jeans, and a multicoloured striped sweater. She looked as if she had waltzed right out of the 70's. Her hair was shaved on one side, the rest was dyed a bright purple, which matched her lipstick and eyeshadow. Her skin was tan and her eyes were chocolate. She must have owned the car that was outside. 

"Hello!", she called out, her voice cheerful. Her eyes lingered onto Gabriel, and she smiled wide. "Hey, I haven't seen you here before! Are you knew to the Craft, or to the 'burrow'?"

"Burrow?" 

"That's what she calls this area." Jack answered. 

"Yeah.", The teen confirmed, lifting herself up onto the side of the counter to sit. She swung her legs back and forth mindlessly. "It reminds me of a rabbit's ville, there aren't many people around here. It's a small community. We had one back at home."

She jumped back down. The girl sure wasn't preoccupied with the moment, that is to say, she was very jumpy. "My name's Sofia. Who are you?"

"I'm Gabriel, Reyes." The officer responded, looking down at her. She was only old enough to be his daughter, he realized, and he was thirty. Did she live with parents in the area? He hadn't seen any other houses so far.

"King, huh?" She scoffed playfully with a small smile on her face. Then, she said something lowly in Spanish, and Gabriel responded. The two of them laughed, but Ana and Jack simply stared. 

Sofia let a drawn out sigh. "Aaand, just so you know, they can understand that too. That was a test."

"For the last time, we are not crazy." Jack mumbled. Gabriel shrugged, because it was not like they did not know how he felt already. Still, it changed nothing; Gabriel already was fond of Sofia. 

"Anyways." The girl continued. "I'm getting the idea you are not here for banter. You on business?" 

"I guess you could say that." Gabriel replied, figuring that that was what he was there for anyways. "May I ask you something, first?"

"Yeah."

"What are you?" Gabriel paused. 

Sofia took a moment to take that question into consideration, as if she didn't know how to answer it, or as if it was obvious enough. "Human. Why?"

"Because..."

"Yeah, I know. I know I've just met you, but to be honest, I ain't no angel, honey." Sofia laughed, shaking her head as if Gabriel's question was sincerely that hilarious and unnecessary. Gabriel just wanted to know how many of the people he saw daily weren't human. "I'm just human. A witch. Technomancer, really."

"Technomancer? You...do magick with technology?"

Sofia nodded. "Yeah, mostly blogging and stuff like that. Of course, I practice out of the Internet, but..."

"What she is meaning to say is that she likes laying around on social media during work hours." Jack ratted her out. Sofia shrugged; Gabriel made the assumption that that was what she was doing in the back room. 

"Regardless, what business do you have here? I'm curious. You don't seem like a witch. Sorry, that's rude." Sofia cleared her throat. 

"No, I'm not a witch." Gabriel shook his head. He grew up being force fed the false belief that Witchcraft was of the devil, and although he had changed his mind and ignored practically everything his parents had ever told him, he never looked much in to the religion. He didn't have time. "I'm here because..."

"What the fuck!" Sofia shrieked suddenly, staring down towards Gabriel's arm. She backed away. "Why the fuck are you here? Ana, why did you bring him here, did you—?" 

Gabriel shut up as Ana tried to calm Sofia down. Sofia pressed herself back against the counter, never taking her eyes off of the officer. She seemed petrified at the Mark, as if it would suddenly give Gabriel all sorts of powers and it would go out of control. Gabriel put the arm behind his back. 

Jack placed a hand on Sofia's shoulder. "It's okay, he's with us. He's not a cultist." Sofia looked at him with fearful eyes, finally being able to rip them away from Gabriel. "He's a victim, trust me."

Sofia ran off to the back. That was he last time Gabriel was going to see her that day. At the same time, there was a ringing of a bell, and the rough sound of shoes scuffed in on the welcome mat. Jack had already went back with Sofia to check on her, but Ana stayed with Gabriel. Without turning around he could tell by the huge smile on her face that it was another one of her friends. No one would smile to a customer so heartedly. 

"Oh, Hanzo!" She called out. "I wasn't sure if you'd be coming out tonight!"

"It is a full moon, after all." He heard a deep, and honestly heart ripping voice from behind him. Gabriel turned and back away from the door so the man he now saw could step inside. The first thing he noticed was his hair; most of it was shaved, like Sofia's, but an undercut. His hair was a soft black, pulled back into a tight man-bun. He had piercings; in his ears and on his nose bridge. He was Asian, that much Gabriel could tell, as well as severely handsome. He wore a flannel that appeared baggy on him, which was strange, since Gabriel could see the creases of muscles under the thin black undershirt. He carried a linen bag, personalized with an intricate sketch of the moon cycle. It seemed as if he had drew it himself. He certainly looked like a hipster artist. He even had a goatee (never mind the fact that Gabriel also had one, it didn't count).

"I thought I'd stop by, see if you were here or anything." The man, Hanzo, continued. "I also was wondering if my brother was around."

"Genji? No, I haven't seen him lately." Ana turned to Gabriel. "This is Hanzo, one of our friends; his brother, Genji, is friends with Sofia." She turned back to the man. "Weren't he and Sofia supposed to go shopping earlier?"

"They did. He just hasn't come home yet." 

"Then he's probably at Lucío's or something."

"I guess. I'll have to call him." Hanzo sided. Gabriel didn't quite get why an adult would be so persistent on knowing where a sibling was, unless that sibling was five. Gabriel assumed perhaps Genji was a teenager like Sofia, then, if they were friends. 

"Who are you?", Hanzo then directed at the officer. "Is there a problem?"

"No, there's not." He responded. "I'm here on...business."

"Then there is a problem? You are an officer." 

Gabriel shook his head and Ana cut in. "No, dear, he's...here on circumstance. Do you know what happened at the station?"

What was with the station? Why would Hanzo know anything about it? Was he also there at some point? However, the man shook his head. "No, I've been at home with Jesse."

"Oh. How is he doing?"

"He's alright. He's still shaky, but I have him in bed." Hanzo replied, eyes looking down to the hardwood planked flooring. He seemed to notice Gabriel's stare and changed the subject quickly. "What happened at the station?" 

"Well...we encountered a group of cultists, and..." Ana stopped, and Hanzo and her exchanged an odd look that Gabriel couldn't decipher. 

"Oh. How is he?"

"He's fine, actually. He's in the back talking with Sofia." Ana told him, which also left Gabriel confused. Why would Jack be in the sentence, and why didn't Ana just finish the sentence out loud? It honestly annoyed Gabriel. 

"What are you?" Gabriel asked. Ana almost tried to stop him, her mouth agape with a sigh and a hand about to place onto his upper arm. 

Hanzo wasn't the slightest troubled by his outburst. "Human."

"Bullshit."

"Gabriel—" Ana gasped, pulling her hand away. Hanzo, again, wasn't swayed. He looked as if he was about to chuckle, as if it was almost expected how Gabriel was acting. Surely, Hanzo knew that Gabriel was informed already on the angelic Ana, and Jack, who was...

Gabriel spoke again. "I don't mean it rudely," his tone was defensive of himself, starting to notice that saying 'bullshit' and 'what are you' to some man you just met isn't all that polite as a 'how do you do' would have sufficed. "I just want to be sure I...understand. I mean I'm supposed to be a wraith, or something."

Hanzo squinted, and tilted his head as if he either did not heard what Gabriel had said properly or was troubled by it. "I'm human, really. And...'supposed' to be? If you're a wraith, you hardly look it, no offense," Gabriel mumbled a, 'none taken'. "Wouldn't you know, then?"

"I was just told I was a wraith earlier. And an...what's it called?" Ana, from beside him, was shaking her head, trying to get him to stop speaking, but he continued anyways. "Oh, yeah, an incubus."

Hanzo paled, and looked off to the side. He fumbled around with the straps of his bag. He was obviously uncomfortable with what Gabriel had said to the point that even Gabriel himself noticed it. 

"I...I needed to pick up some herbs, again." Hanzo disregarded the fact that they had recently encountered in any sort of conversation a moment beforehand. Gabriel would've apologized, but he didn't say anything wrong. Well, he had to admit, being at least a little bit of a creature that's main definition was taking people in their sleep, was a little creepy and not to say wrong. 

Ana didn't say anything else and moved behind the desk. She didn't look at Gabriel now Hanzo, but at the wall racks. "Your usual order, right?"

Hanzo confirmed and Ana began to sort through the jars to find all the herbs that Hanzo usually used. She took them in bundles and put them in small plastic bags, which were designed on one side with a dark purple half moon-and-sun print. As Hanzo was waiting for them, he did not look Gabriel in the eyes and stood rather awkwardly staring at the back of Ana's head. 

Gabriel ducked into the hallway. If he made Hanzo that uncomfortable, he would get out of his way. He figured he should look for Jack and see if Sofia was alright. 

Gabriel wished he didn't scare anyone, and he didn't quite understand why he did in the first place. Weren't these creatures supposed to be the norm to these people? Hanzo didn't seem the least surprised by Gabriel being a wraith, but all of a sudden, being an incubus...Gabriel got that part. Ana hadn't made a big deal, though, and neither did Jack. 

He slowly reached the end of the hall, where he could see dim lighting coming out of the left room. He heard murmuring, Jack talking with Sofia. Sofia's tone had calmed down, at least, but Gabriel didn't know if it would stay that way if he walked in. He knocked on the door. He could hear the voices stop before Jack called out, "Who is it?"

"It's me." Gabriel answered. 

There was another pause; he assumed there was a silent gesture question and a confirmation. "Alright, come in."

Gabriel cracked the door open, peering in sheepishly to the young girl sitting on the bed (a bed in a shop, Gabriel noted). Her eyes appeared tired, since her terrified outburst must have drained her energy. She wasn't shaking, like Gabriel was afraid she would be. She just sat there, looking almost ashamed at herself. There was no reason for that. 

Gabriel entered the room. It was a bedroom. The bedspread we purple with white stripes, there were white curtains, and there was a polished dark oak desk adorning at least three computer monitors and a pretty expensive looking keyboard. There were posters on the brown walls; mostly band posters. Beside the bed were photo booth pictures of Sofia, an Asian boy with light green hair, a man with plush padded frog headphones clamped over his ears, a tall, lanky, and quite shirtless boy with a smudge of...something on his cheek, and a small Asian girl with drawn on pink whiskers in the shape of thin, long triangles. There was also a singular picture of Sofia and a little girl who looked as if she were her sister; a portrait that hung above a couple of plants on the other side of the room near the window. 

It was obvious that this was Sofia's room. She must not live with her parents, so she must live in the shop. There was probably a kitchen, and definitely a bathroom, since he did not assume that the girl would either eat out at the diner everyday a couple times or go to Jack's to use the restroom. 

Jack was sitting in Sofia's computer chair, and he had preformed a well job of calming the girl down. When Gabriel entered the room, she eventually fixed her sleepy eyes on him, for a moment before peering down again. 

"I'm sorry." She told him. 

"You don't have to be." Gabriel told her. 

"But I do." She refused, standing up and pacing her room, over her black rug, before stopping in front of her plants and sitting down on the small white cabinet that was at the end of her bed. "I'm never like that. I never freak out like that. I knew there was something with you when I saw you, Gabriel. I knew there was something off...I just didn't think it was...that Mark. God, Gabriel, I'm so sorry. I thought you were one of them. Jack told me you weren't, he told me your situation. I'm sorry."

"Please, stop saying your sorry. I'm not mad or upset. I was just worried about you." Gabriel stood in the doorway, a bit too nervous to come in. Jack waved him a step inside, and to close the door, which he did both of whilst talking. "Also, I was careless out there. I don't know much about these...creatures."

The comment vaguely made Jack wince. Gabriel, again, didn't know any other way to put it. "Apparently, though, I just happen to be one. Two, actually. And I'm not even sure of what this Mark means. I was human earlier, and now I'm not so sure. So I'll say stupid things...like, I did to Hanzo."

"Hanzo's here?" Jack questioned. "...what did you say to him?"

"Nothing offensive or rude. All I said was that I'm a wraith," Gabriel paused, not sure if Sofia would take this well or not. He quieted his voice, although knowing she could still hear him. ", as well as an incubus."

Sofia gasped, but it was quick, and heaping of realization. "Oh no."

Jack put his head down into his hands, groaning and rubbing his forehead. He didn't say anything but his actions spoke a thousand words. In short, Gabriel knew he fucked up really bad, which just happened to be a speciality of his. 

"What?" Gabriel asked, feeling like his palms were getting sweaty as a result from too much anticipation and nervous nausea for barely one day. "What did I say?"

Sofia looked back at him, with an expression that spoke, 'You should know better', which he didn't, but her tone spoke sympathy when she said, "Gabriel, Hanzo doesn't trust incubuses."

"Why not?" Gabriel asked practically rhetorically. He shook his head, close to stepping onto the black rug, but kept his shoes off of it. "I mean, I know that incubuses aren't...good."

"Gabriel." Sofia began, standing from the edge of the cabinet and turning to face him. 

"Yes?"

"Genji was attacked by one years ago. Hanzo still hasn't forgiven them."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha whoops silly Gabriel, bite your tongue (^ ^)  
> So enter Witch Hanzo and Technomancer Sofia!! I've been waiting to write for them for so long haha.  
> Let's play: can you guess what's wrong with Jesse?  
> The answer is nope because it's really surprising.  
> However, feel free to guess!!
> 
> References for the Wicca lore is from myself.
> 
> Sorry if this one is late I'm not really sure?? It was difficult to write because I wanted to add so much. 
> 
> Also, had to cut the idea that Genji would've came in this chapter, however, he is only mentioned. Maybe soon ;)
> 
> 2nd also, Sofia (Sombra, obviously), is named after one of my friends Sofia who is Hispanic (Guatemalan). I thought it'd use that name because I've always liked it, and it fits.


	9. Everything's Normal...Right?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything is settled. Almost everything.

Gabriel did not want to go home that night. With the Mark on his arm, as mysterious as it was to him, if he was alone he's probably end up panicking and chopping his arm off. He was glad, however, that the Mark hadn't done anything weird like glow or suddenly turn him into a demon from a video game or something. That, he didn't quite want, and neither did Jack, who allowed him the guest bedroom in his house. 

Before they left to go to Jack's house, Gabriel was told about Genji, and to be honest, it wasn't a pretty story and it didn't make him feel any less ignorant. Sofia had begun to tell the story, about it having been a normal day when Genji had been attacked, but eventually got skittish and had to stop. Jack took charge of the story. 

Genji didn't sense that anything was amiss and neither did Hanzo, who he lived with, and still lived with. The both of them went to bed the night that the incident occurred. Neither of them expected, certainly not Genji, that he would awake to a figure that he couldn't figure out any personal features about on top of him. He didn't expect he would have to throw the figure off of him, and chase it to the window, which was then open when it had been shut tight when he went to sleep. Hanzo didn't expect to hear yelling and crying, or to have to run into his little brother's room to see him half naked and sobbing on the floor. 

They didn't explain these things, but it happened. Both of them still had no idea who the figure was, because it never came back. An incubus was the assumption. Gabriel, being an incubus, was a little nerving to Hanzo. That was why he got upset, and he had a great deal of a reason to be. 

Gabriel felt really horrible about the situation, but there was no way he could've known that had happened to Genji. If he did, he would've shut up. He was jealous of Jack and Ana, who probably knew what to say before a conversation even starts. 

Since he didn't want to be in his dark apartment by himself anytime soon, Gabriel had to commend Jack on his courteousness. He was kind. The both of them, once they came back from the shop and parted from Ana, sat down with glasses of sweet tea in Jack's living room for an hour or so. 

Jack was the one that brought up the mark first. He told him to not worry much about it. It wasn't reacting to anything, overall. If it was reacting to anything, such as situations or words, then Gabriel would have to be watched. Sure, it didn't sound fun to be closely examined on, 'what the hell is going on with you', but it was do Gabriel's own good if it happened. Gabriel complied with this idea easily. He didn't want to get hurt or hurt anyone due to his wrist that now looked like a very, very drunk tattoo artist etched squiggles into his arm and felt proud of it. 

They talked about other things.  
Jack told Gabriel about Sofia. Sofia was born in Mexico but her real parents died when she was very young. She moved with her grandmother to America and was raised by her until just recently, about a year past. Then, her grandmother died, and to avoid being put into the system, since she was still relevantly young, she moved into the shop under Ana's adoption of her. Sofia liked to be alone, so that was why she did not live with Ana. 

Then, Jack talked about her friends. Hana was a gamer from Korea who streamed her content and was pretty well known for it around the world. Lucío was an aspiring music artist that posted his music on YouTube. Jamison was the son of a rich and fancy Australian business man, and he didn't really know who he wanted to be. Genji was Genji; that being, he knew what he wanted to be, but it wasn't anything he wanted to talk about with anyone. 

They all had one thing in common, though. They were all witches. Hana was a kitchen witch. She loved to cook and bake things for her friends. Lucío was a green witch, and had two frogs and a snake for pets. Jamison was a hedge witch, and was fascinated and rather well self-educated in spiritual activities and beings. Genji, like Hanzo, was a sea witch. Both of them had been raised by the sea, and their mother would always tell them stories about mermaids and all of the other creatures that lived out in the watery deep. 

After Jack finished his tea, he said he felt tired and went back to bed. Gabriel watched as Jack turned into the room that Gabriel had assumed was the guest bedroom, but was the one that he had woke up in earlier. He swallowed, because of course he had been unconscious in Jack's bed earlier. Irony was a gift of humiliation. Gabriel sat up for a while longer, finished his tea as well, and washed his cup in the sink before heading to the guest room as well. He crept down the wooden floored hallway so he wouldn't be loud in case Jack was asleep already. As he went by the man's room, Gabriel tried his best to keep going, but a small glance inside he sent on accident held him in his place at the doorway. 

Jack laid sprawled out in the bed, his blanket just covering up the top of his chest. The windows sent a blue lighting to lay over him, stroking over his face, and twisting into his hair. His eyelids were clamped, hiding his purely cut diamond irises that lay under them. His eyelashes were fucking long. His hair looked soft, but had the colour of hay straws. His lips were—

Jack shifted, and the cover came down more. As soon as Gabriel realized that Jack was shirtless, he instantly scurried down the hall. He could've sworn he heard a whisper of an amused scoff, but tried to pretend he didn't already assume that Jack had knew he was there. 

Gabriel reached a room and turned on the light. It wasn't the guest room that he had expected was there, but an office instead. It was a neat room, with an organized, large oak desk in one side and big bookcases on the other. Gabriel noticed that one of the shelves adorned an altar, decorated with candles and berries and pinecones. The rest of the bookshelves were covered with books. A great deal regarded history, but there were also books on science, politics, and different types of religions. 

"You interested in reading or are you really lost?" A voice called put to him in a mocking, yet friendly tone. 

Gabriel almost jumped right out of his skin, startled by the sudden speaking. He turned around to the doorway, where he saw Jack standing, smiling in at him. "The guest room's across the hall."

Gabriel didn't hear him, since he was occupied at near gaping at Jack, who stood there, wearing nothing but American themed underwear, in which would've made Gabriel hurl if Jack wasn't so ripped for a skinny man. 

Gabriel was about to respond when he felt an odd feeling wash over him. Why was Jack smiling at him like that? Was it anything unlike normal? Why was Jack only wearing his underwear. Yeah, he had been in bed, but he could've slipped on some night pants before walking down the hall. 

"Are you trying to test me?" 

Gabriel asked this in the most fairly neutral tone he could speak in. He wasn't angry, but he was confused. He had just met Jack, but Jack knew who he was. He knew what he was. Gabriel didn't want Jack to try to see if he could trust him or not. Jack should know that already. 

Jack frowned after a moment, obviously confused about Gabriel sudden question. "What?" He asked rhetorically. He knew was Gabriel meant, but he didn't like that Gabriel would suspect that. "If you mean...no, I'm not Gabriel."

"Are you scared of me?"

"No." Jack told him. 

"Why not?" Gabriel pestered, his curiosity trying to get the best of him. "Everyone else seems to be."

"They're not. And I'm not." Jack, again, confirmed. He leant off the doorway, crossing his arms lazily. "I just came to tell you...wrong room."

Jack went back to bed. Gabriel quickly turned the light off and scattered into the next room. It was the correct room, but although he was tired he wasn't sure he'd be able to sleep. It was a wrong assumption, though, for once he laid down, he drifted right off. The day had been much more than simply exhausting. 

-

The next day Gabriel woke up to yellow sunlight flowing in from spread curtains and the smell and sound of eggs sizzling from down the hall. He would've thought the night before was a dream if it wasn't for the fact that he didn't want it to be. He was half glad he'd been Marked by a demon's cult and been dragged or of an abandoned subway station after getting flattened by an imaginary train. At least now he has more friends than Liao and his boyfriend. He wondered if he should give them a call or not, tell them that he was t coming into work. 

Oh no, that's right, he had a job! He wasn't supposed to be sleeping, he was supposed to be turning into the office to clock in. 

Gabriel went to sit up, but had to slowly lower himself back down for a few moments. He groaned, clutching the side of his head. It was throbbing like hell all of a sudden. Finally, the pain receded and he was able to sit up fully. 

Jack was watching from the door, this time, however, fully clothed. He looked concerned at Gabriel, and asked him, "You feeling alright? Need any aspirin, or...?"

"No, no..." Gabriel shook his head. His brain felt as if it had multiplied in size over night, his skull felt so thick and heavy. He just slept weird, or sat up too quickly. "I'm fine. It's nothing."

"Okay." Jack sided, of course, not convinced because he could tell how Gabriel really felt. "Ana's making breakfast."

"I know, I could smell it. It's a wonder there's no drool on the pillow." Gabriel laughed as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. The night before, he had took off his dark blue over shirt but kept his undershirt as well as his pants on, so at least he was decent. 

Jack, though, kept his eyes on him for a moment more before offering, "If you'd like the change your clothes, I think I have some that might fit you. You can find something in my room if you'd want to."

"I don't know..." Gabriel shrugged. It would be nice to get out of his tight uniform, but he had to go to work...the idea of wearing one of Jack's shirts persuaded him. Jack smiled, and began down the hall into the kitchen. 

Gabriel went into Jack's room after making the guest bed back up. He didn't have to turn on the light, for it was even brighter than it was in the other room. He found the closet, and opened the door. He felt very awkward about sorting through another man's closet, but Jack offered so he was comfortable with it. 

He located a baggy sweatshirt, light baby blue. It's cuffs and collar ring were a pastel yellow. He would've liked to see Jack wearing it, but wearing it himself had to suffice. As soon as he pulled his undershirt off and replaced it with Jack's fluffy sweatshirt, he could tell it was one of his favorites. It smelt like fabric softener, but under that smell he caught a hint of something else. Cologne, maybe? 

He stopped being creepy and left the room. He located the bathroom so he could dart in and check on his hair (and piss, but his hair was more important to him). He combed his curly, dark brown hair with his hand, and rubbed his lengthening stubble wearily. He looked so tired, but he understood why. Stress. Nothing but complete stress. That, and he was hungry. 

He left the bathroom after washing his hands and found his way to the kitchen. Ana stood near the toaster, putting slices of bread into it's slots. She smiled to Gabriel and said something he didn't quite understand, but he was sure she said something along the lines of, "Good morning."

Sofia was sitting tall glasses of orange juice at the dining table. She saw Gabriel and smirked, not doing her best to suppress a laugh. "Already found a boyfriend, esé?"

Gabriel rolled his eyes, but was glad that Sofia couldn't tell what he was thinking like the others could, because it was mostly just him gushing on the inside. He didn't respond to the comment out loud and asked, "Need me to help with anything?" 

"Uhm...the plates and silverware, probably." Sofia responded, pointing to the cupboards. 

Ana came over to the table with a medium plate stacked with toast. Gabriel got the feeling that it wasn't just the four of them that we're going to be eating together. In fact, there were five glasses. Someone must have RSPV'd. Gabriel went into the kitchen and sorted through the top cupboards until he found a line of plates. He picked five off, took them over to the table, and then came back for the silverware. As he sat them out on napkins beside the plates, Jack came out from the hallway and spotted what he was wearing. Gabriel could've sworn he caught a small smile on the man's face as he went to help Ana in the kitchen. 

Once the breakfast meal had been set out, it consisted of orange juice, toast, eggs, bacon, orange slices, and small bowls of something Ana called ful medames. Jack told Gabriel that ful medames were made of fava beans, onions, cumin, garlic, and lemon juice. The cumin and garlic apparently came from their own garden in the backyard. That meant that whatever the beans tasted like, they would certainly taste good. 

There was a knock at the door. Sofia quickly jumped up from her seat in front of the television and bounded towards the door. Gabriel had expected to see one of her friends, maybe Hana, or Jamison, since she was acting so excited, but instead, when she opened the door and greeted who was there, Gabriel felt a little more than anxious. 

It was Hanzo. He stood at the door, a tight knit sweater clasping onto his shape. Black jeans fell down to his ankles, and his hair was fluffy by his ears, not in a bun this time. He looked tired, more so than Gabriel himself. However, he smiled, not genuine, not happy, but still as he seemed to muster. Hanzo talked to Sofia for a moment before Ana invited him inside. He came in and entered the living space, looking across the room towards Gabriel. Sofia had followed the man in and mentioned with her hand for the officer to come over. 

Gabriel edged over to the couch in which Hanzo stood against, feeling fully sick to his stomach again. Was he going to say something about how he felt? Was he going to tell him the story again? Gabriel wasn't sure he wanted to hear that, and certainly not from someone who had to deal personally with the situation. He wouldn't feel any better, and he wasn't sure if that were to happen if he would be able to still eat breakfast. 

"Gabriel," Hanzo began, looking rather tense. His hands were welded together, and Gabriel would've said he looked solemn if he wasn't so shaky, which he could tell that there was an effort made to suppress that. "I acted like a fool yesterday. That was very rude of me. I'm not deserving of your forgiveness, but I am sorry."

Now that was solemn. It was also very sad, and it was also very wrong. No, Hanzo didn't do anything wrong. It was Gabriel's fault. No, it was neither of their faults. Hanzo was upset, and didn't trust him, and Gabriel didn't know about what he had experienced. They both felt bad, but they were not in the wrong, not one of them. 

Gabriel shook his head. He'd accept the apology, but there was no need for one. "No, Hanzo, I'm sorry. Jack told me everything." 

Hanzo didn't say anything to this but lowered his head slightly. He peered down at the floor, and Gabriel followed his eyes. There was nothing there. Hanzo was uncomfortable with getting apologies as well, it seemed. 

Gabriel continued. "I only just found out I'm...that. I don't want to be that." He looked back over to Ana. Was he even saying the right things? Ana didn't try to stop him from speaking this time. She appeared to be staring straight into Hanzo's mind, which made Gabriel a little antsy, but a little prouder to speak. "But, you can trust me. I'm a...whatever, but I'm still human, too."

Hanzo seemed to lighten up a bit. "Alright." He remarked, looking back up with a small smile. This one seemed polite. 

Gabriel nodded to him and Jack entered the fray. He smiled, wide and totally real. The blonde offered to Hanzo, "Why don't you stay for breakfast? I thought Genji was coming with you, so was Sofia, but we still have a place at the table open."

"Oh, yes. Genji is still coming to the shop later." Hanzo paused and looked back at Gabriel. "By the way, I have talked to him, and he said he is excited to meet you. He likes making friends. That said, he doesn't mind what you are." 

This made Gabriel ease a little more than he had perceived as possible. He had expected for Genji to not trust him or want to be around him either, but if what Hanzo said was true, he would like to meet the kid as well. 

Hanzo turned back to Jack. "And, I couldn't possibly. You all probably have a lot to talk about, I wouldn't want to infringe—"

"No, no, you wouldn't! Unless you have anywhere to be." Jack paused. He grinned cheekily at the man. "Ana did make ful madames."

Hanzo seemed to think about that for only about a few seconds before he nodded politely and let his hands relax. "I guess I could spare some time."

-

After breakfast, they all sat down together in the living room and talked. Jack took the rocking chair again, Hanzo, Gabriel, and Ana sat on the couch. Sofia was in the office down the hall. Even after the day before and the awkward apologies earlier, Gabriel and Hanzo were getting along pretty well. They talked about jobs. Hanzo was an artist. He drew commissions, he painted, he did traditional and digital art, and sold it online or at conventions. He showed Gabriel a few of his works on his phone. Beautiful, thick forests, large, frosted mountains, and packed city streets. He also drew people, in various different styles. 

They also discussed how he and Genji came to be sea witches. Other than living near the sea and hearing stories, he and Genji had to pursue their practices by themselves. Their family was very traditional; nothing that they would deem 'evil' or 'not honourable' was to be allowed. They had to follow their families rules and traditions. They didn't, but that was in secret. Once they were sent to school in America, they spent much of their time enjoying the beach, and in the dorm they shared, they had altars, and books, and all sorts of things they could not have at home. They realized this made them happy, happier than standing to a code at home. So, they refused to go home, and was immediately and imminently shunned by their family. Still, they didn't mind that. If their family did not love them enough to respect their decision, then so be it. 

After a while, Hanzo stood and began to bid his goodbyes to everyone. "This has been really pleasant, and thank you for breakfast. I must get home, though. Genji's probably heading to the store now, so Jesse will be alone and he doesn't really like that."

Gabriel felt his gut clench. He wasn't sure if it was bad to ask the question that he was thinking of, but he didn't quite understand why this 'Jesse' was being so watched over. 

"Who is Jesse?" He asked. "Is he...is he alright?"

Hanzo regarded his questioned with momentous bluff. "Jesse is my boyfriend." He told him. "He's sick."

"Oh." Gabriel ticked, furrowing his brows. But just how sick was this Jesse? The way Hanzo was making it sound was way worse than Gabriel had supposed. 

"He's..." Hanzo began, looking as if he was searching for the correct wording. "Mentally sick. He hasn't left the house for around a year. It's due to...anxiety. He says he sees something, like...a demon. In crowds. He thinks it wants to hide and kill him."

God, that was fucking grim. 

-

Almost as soon as the door to the store was opened, Sofia ran to her bedroom. She peered in, apparently didn't see anyone, and then turned to the next room over. The door opened, and a tall, skinny boy holding a large bag of tortilla chips, mostly empty by now, emerged from the room. 

"Stop eating all of my chips, primo." Sofia jabbed him in the arm playfully. 

The boy spoke with a thick voice, an accent clearly labeling his tongue as he rounded out his words. "Then stop buying two bags at a time. It gives me a sign that I'm welcome to them."

"That's because you eat all of them! I gotta have a spare!" She falsely cried out, and both of them laughed. The boy turned his head towards the door, where Gabriel stood, watching the both of them as Jack and Ana began to help a customer. 

The boy had short, shaggy black hair. His eyes were a golden honey, and noticeably, he had dark scars circling around his nose and over his bushy eyebrows. His face was slender, and so was his figure. His ears were gaged, and his complete style of clothing screamed 'punk'. He didn't seem to be dressed at all for winter. His tank top was plastered with a band brand, and his pants were tight, so right that Gabriel was surprised he was even standing. 

When the boy spotted him, he grinned widely and handed the bag of chips to Sofia. She flared her nose and shook her head, amused, before walking back into the room he came out of and shutting the door. He walked over to Gabriel and leant out a hand. Gabriel took it and they shook hands for a moment as the boy introduced himself. He appeared a lot younger than Gabriel had expected. 

"My name is Genji. You've met my brother, yes? You're Gabriel, right?" Gabriel nodded. The boy seemed to be happy that he was, so that he wasn't just shaking hands with a complete stranger. "Heard about you. First things first, I trust you. Don't worry. Second thing, are you busy today?"

Gabriel tilted his head. Well, that was simply too quick to catch onto. Genji seemed very hyper, and Gabriel wondered if he was always like this. He seemed like the type of guy that would drink a lot of caffeine, anyways. "I'm probably going to be with Ana and Jack all day. Why?"

"Oh. I was wondering if you'd like to go to the movies with us. Me and Sofia are going to pick up Hana." Genji offered, glancing back as Sofia came into the main room. She stood next to him, and she was suddenly really short. "That's fine though. You driving, Sofi?"

"Yeah, guess." She shrugged, pulling her keys from her pocket and pressing a button. A soft chirp was gear from outside. "C'mon." 

Genji waved goodbye to Gabriel as he followed after Sofia. A few moments later, Gabriel could hear the engine start, and the two drive off. 

Genji seemed really nice. Gabriel was glad that he didn't hold any resentment against him. Again, he still kept the moral of not wishing to scare anyone. As an officer, he took an oath to protect. If he were to harm anyone in anyway or make them uncomfortable, he would leave. It was that simple to him. It wasn't that simple regarding the Mark and whatever it was going to do to him. It had to do something eventually, and he was not looking forward to it.

The three still in the shop were kept in silence after the lone customer bought what they wanted and left. It was about and hour later before they heard the bell over the door ring again, alerting of another customer. Gabriel had been curiously looking through the aisles again when he heard someone ask Ana something. Gabriel peeked out from a book that he was sifting through, and saw a boy no older than sixteen holding a stack of papers within his skinny arms. He looked a little out of breath. 

Once Gabriel made himself present, the boy looked over to him for help, certainly worried and on edge. 

"Where's Genji?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bahhahahaha  
> OwO who's this???


	10. And Down We Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Down into the abyss of dirty souls.

The boy appeared almost shaky, but seemed to manage keeping it tightly under wraps. His hands clutched to the papers he held, and Gabriel managed to analyze that they contained mostly scribbles of a language he could not understand on their faces. The boy had choppy, short black hair, coarse; he also had dark tan skin, and bright eyes, which were standing contrary to what he should have had, which was to say instead of brown eyes, his eyes were pale like the moon. He was blind. 

Even so, he was looking directly at Gabriel. 

"Excuse me, do you know Genji?" He asked, his dead eyes glancing around the room before returning to hoist their useless gaze at the officer. "Do you know where he is?"

Gabriel was shocked at the boy's suddenly entry to the point that he didn't say anything, as if pretending he wasn't there. Ana noticed this and spoke up, although her face held the expression of, 'Why are you so rude?'

"Yes, dear." The older lady answered. The boy's head twisted into her direction, which was behind the counter, at the register. Ana wasn't phased by it. "He went to the movies with his friend, Sofia."

"Sofia...", the boy began. "Means he'll probably see Hana too." 

"Yes," Gabriel finally spoke. The boy didn't look at him, though. "He said he was going to meet her."

"He was supposed to wait for me." The young boy said slowly, looking down. He seemed disappointed. "He asked me about...I have the results here..." He made no effort in explaining what he meant. 

"Dear, are you alright?" Ana asked him. The boy nodded as he stood stiffly by the door, feet brushing meagerly on the scratchy welcome mat. He wasn't alright, and even Gabriel could tell, so he knew Ana and Jack could. 

"Yes. I just needed to give him these papers. I was going to before he left, but..." The boy sighed, as if defeated. Why was he so worried? Perhaps it was homework, or something, that he had for Genji, but 'results' was an odd word for 'answers'. "I'll have to leave them with Hanzo...no, can't do that. Can't leave them with him. When will Genji be back?"

Jack stepped up beside Gabriel, and it was obvious that he was trying to foresee into the future. He replied for Gabriel, who himself had no clue, "At 4:24." He added after a moment, "Around then."

The boy nodded. "Alright. I shall come back then." He looked behind himself at the door, then back to everyone else. "I apologize for my manners. I am Tekhartha, Genji's friend. I've got to go, but I will come back to meet with Genji later."

With that said, he turned around, and bustled out of the shop. From out the front window, Gabriel witnessed him get into a car, and drive. He backed up, and got on the main road. He literally...

Gabriel felt his gut clench. "Uh...is that...he's blind, right? Those weren't just contacts? Right?"

Jack glanced over to Gabriel, and said as normal as someone would say what day it was or what time it was, "He's blind, but he can see."

"He can...that doesn't make any fucking sense, Jack." Gabriel mumbled in return, toying with the sleeve of the sweater he was wearing. Jack shrugged. To him, it apparently did. To Gabriel, it made as much sense as a sloth being a race car driver. 

"He has something important for Genji to look at." Ana added in. "I know what it is."

"As do I." Jack complied, his eyes wavering from Gabriel to the door. He seemed a little tense as he was thinking, although his facial expression was as neutral as it could be. "Should we...should we do anything about that."

"I don't know, Jack." Ana sighed, closing her eye. She appeared nervous, more so than Jack, but she didn't sweat it. "Interfering would be...impractical. It might disrupt what's supposed to happen."

"What's supposed to happen?" Gabriel asked. He hated feeling out of the situation contrary to the fact that he was quite literally standing right in the midst of it. He wanted to know what was going on as well, because it might concern him. 

Jack exchanged a look with Ana before meeting Gabriel's gaze. "Tekhartha found something about...that station we were in the other day, Genji, I don't know why—"

Ana interrupted him, since it was obvious he was drawing out the answer on purpose; either to be an annoying asshole or on account of awkward explanation. "Genji asked Tekhartha about the subway station a week ago. He wanted to know why there was such a strong energy radiating from him. Tekhartha found out why."

Radiating energy, from an abandoned subway station? That didn't sound so good to Gabriel. Especially since the very same station had fucked up his arm and made his current situation impossible to believe real. Why would Genji know anything or want to know anything about the station? When had he ever went there, and why was the station so important?

"Well?" Gabriel coughed, turning to Ana. He liked her style of explaining more. Jack lowly groaned and crossed his arms. "You going to tell me what he found out?"

Ana glowered at him. Gabriel swallowed, and added, "Please?"

She finally answered, happy with the man's forced manners. "Tekhartha went into the station himself, to meditate. Not the safest of places, but...that's how he works. He's a psychic medium, in training. Whilst he was there, he recorded any sort of energy he felt, both positive and negative, as he sat beside the tracks. He recorded footsteps although he was alone, creaking, winds and stiff air fluctuating, and other..." Ana paused. "Noises. Such as that of a train, and it's blaring sirens. Most frightening of all, he heard a scream, that of a woman, which prompted him to leave the station immediately."

"...about Genji, though..." Gabriel began , utterly stumped. 

Ana shook her head. "That, I'm not sure of."

"Which is weird." Jack added. 

"Which isn't good." Gabriel finished. 

That much was true and they all seemed to share that understanding. What could Genji possibly want to know about an old abandoned metro station that even Jack and Ana couldn't figure it out. That part really made Gabriel nervous; Genji didn't seem like he was expecting any information earlier when he had saw him, but Gabriel didn't actually know anything about the boy in the first place. 

Ana seemed a bit timid at this update. She thought for moment, as if trying to squeeze as much information as she possibly could from what the both of them had gathered. "...it was a week before me and Jack went into the subway, before everything happened there."

Jack made a small humming sound as he walked around the small room over to the counter. His hands rested on it's hard wood, pressing flat down. Then he patted the counter loudly. "Well! That settles it. Let's go."

"Let's what?" Gabriel coughed out, taken aback. 

"Let's go."

"That doesn't answer my question!" Gabriel groaned. There was no way in hell he was going to go into that abandoned subway in which had already mystically labeled him with a scar and ran him over with the wheels of a non-existent fuck-you train, but now was screaming and scaring little boys. "I am not going back."

"Well, you kinda are." Jack said. "Because you do go."

"Stop using the future against me, dipshit." Gabriel growled. Jack shrugged, his eyes closing. Those cocky ass, pretty boy eyelashes. 

"That's not the only thing I could use against you." Jack murmured, causing Gabriel the sudden urge to kick at his ankles. Jack dodged the half-hearted attack and winked, leaving the officer almost scarred with that image. "Still, we need to figure out what Genji wanted. He's not here, so we can't ask him."

"Can't you call him?" Gabriel asked. 

"He's at the movies." Ana reminded him. 

"Not yet," the man retorted. He sighed in frustration. "Just a few more minutes, and he would've still been here. Should've kept him talking."

"That would've been a mistake." Jack laughed. Gabriel didn't know if he should but he took it as a warning and believed him. 

Ana then went on to reassess the situation. Yes, although it was wise to check out the subway, they could always wait until Genji got back and ask him first. It would also be wise to take caution if they did go to the subway. "That's what we will do." Jack urged again. 

Gabriel had the feeling that Jack just knew that they would find out something if they went to the subway themselves. There was no other reason he would be hardening his stance on what they'd do and not do if he foresaw any sort of danger lurking for them. Still, it was a little strange hope that Gabriel held; Ana couldn't see what they'd find, but Jack had never even said what he really was under all that packed human nature. If he was the same as Ana, he'd have said so, and he didn't. Maybe he could see something Ana couldn't. It'd be great if he just told them instead of forcing them to unwillingly go into a dark, moldy, and possibly cult infested nesting realm. 

After it was settled, since Gabriel didn't really have amy other choice contrary to the guidance of his practical advisors, and Ana complied very quickly with Jack, they went back down to the house. There was an odd practice to which they prepared. Jack changed into something more practical; from a checkered long sleeve shirt to a soft, white tee shirt ( very different to the casual suit he had wore to the station the day before ). Ana wore the same blue shirt and white vest she had been wearing. 

Jack looked to Gabriel as he stood by the doorway in his room. His eyes were turned from Jack as he took off his shirt; Gabriel had already seen those muscles enough. For now. 

"Hey. You wanna change that?" Jack referenced to his hoodie that Gabriel was warmly sporting. Gabriel tilted his head. "You can put it back on later."

"Uh, alright..I'll go get my undershirt, then." Gabriel went to make a turn out of the room before the man stopped him again. 

"No, here. Wear this." Jack tossed him a plain, white tank top. Of course, it also smelled like Jack. What was he trying to do, make him fall in love in the sure irony of how damn amazing he smelt, alongside the fact that his fabric softener was softer than a fox in it's winter fur coat? 

Gabriel unconsciously pulled the hoodie off of himself right then and there. He didn't really think about it. His nose was overridden with the pure scent of the very same man that stood and watched him, examining his own toned muscles a great deal, and his dark skin rippling over them, almost near shining. Gabriel pulled on the tank to see that it was a tighter fit, in which you could still play witness to his body. Jack, that dirty, sly dog. 

The three got into the car, thankfully, because Gabriel frankly didn't wish to walk all the way there. They drove up the path and onto the main road, past the shop and into a winding road of trees that tunneled the side. Gabriel stared out the window from the back seat as Jack drives and Ana chattered pleasantly; he had never seen so many trees in his life. How far from the city were they? How come he was never sent back here to arrest some drug dealers or bears rampaging in the woods? 

As soon as the tree line hit open space, Gabriel could see the city. The road had a view as it climbed a hill. In the distance, the concrete city appeared as a dystopian Atlantis, so lonely and quiet. He could see bug-sized cars crawling, and the tall buildings were as silver slivers of grass blades. The outer city where shorter buildings stood, surrounded by neighborhoods, branching out into highways; a jungle so divine that only now Gabriel could see it as such. 

Eventually, they reached the city. It was a little sketchy how Jack drove as if a regular to the route, and drove directly to an entrance of the backstreet Gabriel definitely hadn't known existed. It was narrow, but Jack navigated it like a wide street barren of any obstacles: professionally, and smoothly. 

Once through the passage, Jack parked the vehicle and the three of them got out. Ana grabbed and prepared a small video camera and Jack slipped something into a coat pocket and zipped it up. Gabriel had nothing to get but himself, so he hopped out of the vehicle and followed the two into the alley.

They came upon the station again, still littered with smashed police cars, untouched. The air still smelled vague of leaking gas, which was splattered in a pool as if blood around the back wheels of the cars, staining the faded pavement below it. Even the entrance to the station was the same; the cop car, clawed and mashed, lay like a coffin (and could quite possibly be one) in its foyer. Ana shivered, and Gabriel raised a brow. For a man wearing a measly thin tank top, he had professional knowledge to know it wasn't cold. 

She turned on the video camera, and a flashlight emitted from it. She shown it down a direction of the hall that Gabriel hadn't went down before. Ana informed him, "Zekartah went this way." 

After moving cautiously down the path Ana led him in, Gabriel and the others reached another staircase. 

This staircase was perhaps the most mystifying staircase Gabriel had ever seen, and he had seen quite a few. It spiraled deep into the subway, deep into the Earth. It was as if a sinkhole had dropped itself here for a specific purpose, which seemed to be to draw the trio into the core of the entire world. In the end, at first glance it was just a really long staircase. At second glance or mild stare, it was just a really long staircase. 

Of course, they would be traversing down it into a dark abyss, because, apparently, that was what Jack and Ana liked to do for fun, along with their weird friends. No, not weird. Curious. About something dangerous. Perfect.

Jack led the way, taking the first step. It creaked, and he attempted to grasp the metal railing on the tile wall beside himself. The rail cracked and feel in on itself. He let out a soft breath, and to translate, it basically meant, 'That looked fucking solid, but was actually dust glued together with more dust.'

Forgetting that the once sturdy metal railing had just caved in, he kept going down the stairs. Winding down, Ana and Gabriel followed him, Ana's eye peering out through her recorder, steady. Gabriel clutching onto his own bare arms, chilled. They were moving down into a dark hole, no, another hallway, but it was dark. Eventually, Jack reached the last step, and looked back at Ana and Gabriel. 

He gawked as he made eye contact with Gabriel, and Gabriel gaped back. What, did he have something behind him? Did he even want to check? Maybe Jack was just admiring how goddamn buff he just happened to be, but Gabriel was sure he had already done enough of that earlier. 

The man's blue eyes glowed like little round glass crystals, tinted with a sharp sense. "Gabriel," he began to say, his voice echoing from a few feet below. "You okay?"

"...I think so." Gabriel shrugged. 

Ana swirled the camera around and shook her head back down at Jack, continuing to step down beside him. "No, Jack, he's fine."

Jack did not seem convinced for a moment. If Jack could tell if something was wrong or not, why did he just say something? It wasn't like the Grim Reaper was right behind him or anything. Probably. He took a few more moments to look him over before turning around. He didn't say anything else as Gabriel finally urged himself to begin walking down again. They continued down the hall, but something told Gabriel that the subject of 'what the hell are you staring at like that?' was not over. It was himself. 

Ana's flashlight did not speed that long. They all could see a few feet ahead of themselves, but the darkness swallowed up the photons as if they had been starved in their little hole. Gabriel looked back up from wince they came and could not see a thing. It would be just his god forsaken luck if the stairwell just up and disappeared if they got chased out by some demon or cultists or both. 

Jack took lead again and felt out at the wall, which was tougher than the railing and actually kept it's purpose. It was a dear wonder that the tunnel hadn't caved it at all. The three passed by another control room and then found themselves wandering into an open area. 

There were no tracks in sight, but tables. Tables covered with thick dust, tables fallen onto their sides, smashed tables. Chairs toppled on the floor, chairs stacked. There were parasols, ripped. Some littered paper, various other trash. They were in a once had been foodcourt of the system. There were vendor stalls built into the walls preceding their kitchens. There was even a McDonalds, which Gabriel knew was absolutely closed. A bummer, but with a station like this, if it was open, he wouldn't want any Satan's soda or Dust Burger. 

They gazed around the court and stepped in, over wood and glass shards. Gabriel caught himself focusing on one of the farther tables, which had something more than age old nasty particles layered onto it. 

Melted candles and dried blood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no...
> 
> In my other fic, I mentioned starting art tags for tumblr. If you draw anything for my fics, as well as if I do (I will hehe) I will reblogs and possibly put links to the corresponding chapters/be in the ending author note chapter. 
> 
> My art blog is @fedevier  
> Tag me in your art pls!  
> Also, tag your art under  
> #tadosoverwatch for this fic  
> and  
> #gtwhoverwatch for my other fic!
> 
> Thank you! Hope you enjoyed this update.
> 
> \- Jacob


	11. Gone Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Such a dear pity. She was so young...

The candles were runny, as if they had recently been lit. The wax, although stiff, was fresh, and pooled around the main stick, looking as if it were to be about to roll off the table. The blood was completely dried, though; dark maroon, splattering on the wooden table, in little spots down on the floor. The scene smelt musky, like sandalwood incense, and the air was thin and probably could be cut with a butter knife.

Gabriel felt his breath hinge and his skin tingle. This didn't seem right, and it rightly wasn't. Jack and Ana stood behind him, and once again, Gabriel felt very uneasy. Why would they know exactly to bring him there? That was an easier question to answer, but it didn't level any trust back onto his shoulders. 

He felt his wrist, that had been Marked, twist as he spotted an exacto-knife under the table. Bloodied. Precise. This alone made him nearly want to vomit, but he managed miraculously to hold the urge in. That must have made his Mark. However, it would greatly contradict what Jack had told him about finding him passed out on the tracks. 

How would he have gotten back on the tracks if he was unconscious for the marking? 

Jack stepped up to the scene, his eyes taking in everything he saw. He mumbled, in an almost whisper, "I remember seeing something like this..."

"Of course you did, Jack..." Gabriel shook his head, trying to back away from him. The man looked at him, as if confused. Gabriel continued in shaky breathing, "You're the one that did this to me."

"I'm the what?" Jack asked, appalled. 

"You did this to me!" Gabriel repeated, holding out his arm, the Mark of the cult hardly even beginning to scab over. "There is no other way you'd 'find' me! This is where I may have gotten the mark, there is no way I would've been still on the tracks!"

Jack held up his hands in defense, his tone of voice dropping drastically, low and solid. "I would never do that, Gabriel. I really did find you on the tracks."

"There's no way! There's no—" Gabriel continued, practically hyperventilating as he shook his head worriedly. Damn, if he only had his gun with him. He wouldn't shoot Jack or anything, unless he had to, but he would like to have it in case Jack tried to do any more cult voodoo hoodoo magick on him. 

That's when Jack abruptly took a leap foreword, and grabbed the back of Gabriel's head. Gabriel panicked and tried to yank himself away, maybe shove Jack off of him, and/or grab the petty, dirty little knife off of the floor in sad defense, but Jack had already placed his other palm onto Gabriel's forehead. 

Gabriel felt nothing. 

He could see himself, being dragged from the court towards the stairs. Someone, he couldn't tell just who, lifted him onto their back as they stumbled up the stairs. Whoever it was had a hurt leg, it seemed, and stopped verso often to hiss, an unintelligible  
voice, an obvious tone. 

Back down the hallway, back into the main lobby. Down another hall, and tossed down onto the tracks, where Jack had found him, where Gabriel remembered that he had been before going unconscious. The thing that had picked him up was suddenly startled by a faint banging, like footfalls down metal steps. The stairwell up from the abyss. It flinched, and quickly ran away from him, leaving him on the tracks as it vanished. 

The vision slashed into another. He was still lying there on the tracks, alone, until he could hear someone entering the lobby. "Ana?" He heard. A voice familiar, a tone far more than worried. Shaken. "Ana? Are you still here? He didn't get you, did he?"

There was loud panting as the voice became clearer, closer, until it was right next to him. 

"Hey! Hey, officer...are you alright?" He heard ringing in his ears. Jack. 

Jack grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him lightly, then more urgently. "Oh, Gods, Gabriel...wake up! You're not dead are you..." He paused, before beginning to pick him up. "No, you're not. Come on—"

Jack shifted as he accidentally grabbed Gabriel's wrist. He paled noticeably. His hand released it, and pulled back. It was stamped with fresh, dark red blood. 

Jack, in the vision, quivered. He began to shake his head. 

Then, Gabriel felt everything. 

Jack pulled his hands off of Gabriel. Not in the vision, but in real time. Gabriel did not realize how heavy he felt on his own two feet before Jack unhanded him, leaving him lightly dizzy and extremely aware of everything. His body was buzzing. 

"Oh god.." He began, swallowing. Gabriel stared at the ground and Jack stared at him, as if he was unsure of what he just showed Gabriel was a smart thing to share and a smart decision to have. Gabriel was grateful to know what the hell was going on, in truth, but it didn't make him any less anxious to know what had happened to him. Still, he was left in the dark about what had happened in the court, but he had a pretty good assumption in hand. "Jack, I'm so sorry...it wasn't you..."

"I know." Jack commented. 

"But, who is..."

"Both of us are not sure." Ana stepped in, after she had remained silent during the confrontation between the two. "That is the first time we have seen it. Jack unlocked the memory in third person, or, more accurately, your Third Eye."

"..." Gabriel fell silent, and maybe it was good that he did. They all could hear the noticeable drop of any possibly noise in the court, and the air thickened. They regarded each other with brisk looks, blank expressions that spoke a thousand words. 

Maybe it wasn't the brightest idea Jack could have, to unveil something not wishing to be set loose. Also, maybe it wasn't the best idea for him to not tell Gabriel in advance that he had brought a fucking gun with him, because he had literally brought a fucking gun with him. 

Jack immediately yanked the sleek weapon from his pocket and thrusted it out into the darkness. Gabriel jumped, although glad it wasn't pointed at him. Still, he was pretty pissed off at Jack that he had brought a weapon into the depths of an abandoned station in which it wouldn't be too hard to cover up, say, a murder, without letting him know in advance. Now wasn't the time to start anything, because something else called their attention more importantly. 

It wasn't exactly what Gabriel had been expecting. He had expected a monster, a tall, fiendish creature than preys on random people, that could level a skyscraper, than could eat an entire family, whatever. It wasn't so. 

Stepping out from the shadows of one of the long gone restaurants was a girl. She looked no older than twenty. Her eyes were a bright copper, contrast to her pale, bluish skin. Perhaps it was just the darkness that made it so. Her long, brown hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, slick, and wispy. She wore a dress. It was white, printed with small, pastel pink flowers, that went down to her knees. Her hands gripped onto a jean-fabric over jacket. She was extremely lanky, and tall; her face an angular shape, thin, pointed down towards Gabriel as she stepped out into the dim light of Ana's flashlight. 

As soon as she did, she backed up into the darkness again. All the three could see in the flashlight's rays was her face. 

Ana turned off the flashlight quickly, and Gabriel jumped at the sudden action which masked the room with almost complete darkness, and if it wasn't for a buzzing old light panel in the ceiling, he wouldn't have been able to see anything at all. The girl stepped out again, as if the darkness had comforted her into being safe. 

"Hello." She spoke after a moment. Ana twitched noticeable, and the girl regarded her stiffly. "Why are you here? You were here a day ago. After what happened, why are you back?"

Her voice was heavily carried by with a thick accent. It registered as French. The girl seemed to know a great deal about what had happened. 

Gabriel raised a brow. "Ana, do you know her?"

"Sort of." Ana shrugged. "We have never spoken. I could sense that she was here?"

"Wait." Gabriel stopped her. "You knew this girl was watching you? And us?"

"Yes." Ana didn't find too much strange about that, even though she was obviously uncomfortable with the girls appearance. Who wouldn't be? "Jack did too."

Jack nodded and slipped his hands in his pant pockets casually and he joined in. "She's not harmless...sorta."

That didn't sound good. The girl chuckled lowly, and ended short after. "Yes, he is correct. I've been watching."

Then, she halted, her eyes running up and down Gabriel. She blinked rapidly, her long eyelashes flashing up and down as she edged even closer to him. "You!" She exclaimed, "J'ai te vis!"

Gabriel pointed at himself. "Me?" She nodded, obviously she meant him of she wouldn't be looking him over, so amazed that he was standing before her. "I've never seen you a day in my life."

"Of course not!" She smiled, shaking her head. Her ponytail swished from side to side as easily as a ribbon. "You were unconscious."

Gabriel felt his breath stop. Unconscious...no. No, there would be no reason to suspect that a young girl dressed like she was from the early twentieth century was in a cult, scratched that Mark on his arm, did whatever else could have possibly happened to him, and threw him down on tracks for whatever purpose that had. There was no way in hell. 

Jack noticed Gabriel's rising panic and came forward. He took his shoulder and moved him back away from the girl a little. "Could you explain that for my friend here, dear?"

"Of course. My," she began, not even realizing how scared she had caused Gabriel to become. "I didn't know if you were alive or not. I didn't want to interfere when the man," she pointed at Jack. "came to retrieve you. I scared her off, though. I don't know what happened to her. She hasn't come back, nor her demon and those worshippers. She was doing something to you. It made me angry."

Gabriel didn't think he heard that correctly. "She...?" He questioned, trying to pull away from Jack, how kept him mostly in place. 

"Yes, she. You do not know?" She laughed out, but then stopped. She closed her eyes for a few seconds before continuing. "They worship her too. They worship all sorts of things...she has been causing all sorts of problems in this town since...forever. Like in 1912, the fires in the village north of here, and in 1916, the murders of all those falsely accused criminals before they could be proven innocent in court the next day. That was horrible. Now, she's bringing down these cultists...she needs to leave. I hope she stays away from here."

Gabriel looked back at Ana, his heart thumping hard in his chest. Ana nodded as to confirm his question that he didn't feel much like asking out loud. 'This girl has been dead for a while, right?'

He turned back to her. She stood so purely, and she was so young. Her skin was flawless, all except for a few small scratches that he noticed near the arch to her throat. The girl did not register the awkward pauses. She did not register time. 

"What is your name?"

"You can call me Miss Lacroix." She commented. "My first name is Amélie, though, if you'd like. I don't have many friends, what with me living down here and all, but they'd call me by that, I'd assume."

"Living down here?" Gabriel asked her another question. Amélie nodded, almost excitedly. 

"Yes, here...and other places. Lonely places." Her tone went steep, but she quickly shook it off. Amélie looked over to Ana with a very unexplained gaze as she ended with, "I can't go anywhere else."

The three didn't say anything for a moment, especially Ana, who kept glancing over at Jack, as if she didn't want to be there anymore. Gabriel was right there with her; why were the even still there? Didn't Genji want to know about the ghost lady? That should be it, yeah? Apparently not. 

"Amélie," Jack began, gesturing towards the stairwell with a pointed thumb. "Do you know anything about a train?"

"Yes. This is a station after all." She giggled. If she only knew. "They come every twenty minutes or so. Why, do you need a ticket? I can take you to the ticket box, but you should've passed it on the way in..." Amélie began to walk towards the stairwell. 

"No, no." Jack shook his head to her, and she came back almost obediently. "We were just...wondering, is all. Thank you, though."

Amélie nodded to him. "Of course." Her ears peaked for a moment, and she turned her head as if she heard some noise. "I think I've got to go. My train is here."

With that, she bid adieu, and scampered off towards the stairwell. Jack reached out to her, but couldn't stop her as she began up the pitch black stairs and out of sight. She had completely disappeared. 

Gabriel slumped a bit. Great, now there was a ghost, and they still didn't know anything about who the 'she' was. Yet, it was a she. It couldn't be another angel, or another witch. Jack's expression when he thought this was enough to say a 'no'. 

The three wordlessly began to examine the scene more in depth. The rest of the tables were completely clear of any ominous items, save a few scratched with old ass hearts and initials (whoever Sally and Tom were, he wouldn't assume that they were cultists). There were blood spots leading over to the stairwell, and a couple spots appeared to be a lot older than what had obviously came from Gabriel's own veins. 

Then, there was the knife. It say there, so inconspicuously, so...natural. It blended in with the creepy court, and if Gabriel hadn't been completely, and frantically searching for answers, he might have not seen it. He picked it up, carefully, with two fingers holstering themselves into areas of the handle left unstained. He wrinkled his nose; Fuck, it wreaked! Gabriel could see Ana noticing what he was doing, but before she came over, he took a few spare moments to look the knife over. 

It wasn't an exacto knife per say, but the blade was. The handle was wooden, old. It almost looked handcrafted, though Gabriel didn't know how or why anyone would ever handcraft a knife. Just Ritual Things he guessed. The end of it was even engraved, in gold (paint) 'AZM'.

Ana took the knife from him carefully and put it back, patting him on the tough shoulder. "Don't touch that, Gabriel." She shook her head, and Jack nodded from across the court. Who was he to judge? He was the one sifting through glass shards. "We need to leave everything how it is...and, I think we need to go." 

If Gabriel had feathers, they would've been ruffled. There was no need to leave already, even if he didn't like being in such a hell hole. He just wanted answers. He was pretty sure that although they met Amélie, a quite literal spirit, she couldn't just be the only thing creeping about in the dark. She certainly wasn't, since even she mentioned the woman who did whatever she did to Gabriel. 

Jack came back up to join next to them. "I think that's a good idea. We haven't gotten everything we wanted but for now we have learned everything we need to know, as of the moment."

Gabriel puffed, a frown plastering onto his face. Ana and Jack began to walk towards he stairs and Gabriel followed almost reluctantly. He couldn't keep his eyes from wandering back to the table, and at that knife. He wondered if it had ever been cleaned, or sanitized, or something. Gabriel could be in more danger of tetanus than some she-cultist's goddess of whatever. 

It was quiet, as they followed the pale, circular light from Ana's video recorder, so Gabriel cued in some much needed 'small talk'.

"Jack," he began. "Next time you bring a loaded weapon into a moldy ass, forgotten station with me, left me know first."

Jack took a moment to respond, obviously not even near attempting to hold in a small chuckle. "Well, let's just hope there isn't a next time."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mwahaha!! I hope this fills in a bit of information...except...who is this she???
> 
> Note: I was going to fit two chapters in one, but I haven't updated this fic recently, and I just realllyy wanted to. I wanted you all to meet one of my favorite thought-about characters of this fic!! She's really vital to the story, at least the beginning. 
> 
> So, again, sorry if this is short.
> 
>  
> 
> Note 2: If the French as little as it was in the chapter is incorrect, let me know!! I've only went to Fr3 in High School, and quit out because I started learning Japanese, so...not really sure if I was correct. Help is appreciated!
> 
> Thank you!! -Jacob


	12. Honesty is Not a Virtue of Yours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A briefing.

When they arrived back at the shop, it was a little after noon. The two witches went to man the shop, but Gabriel resorted to walk into the hallway, a little too shaken to try to help out. He had to get a grasp on the situation, anyways. He had an extremely valid reason to be confused, since he had just met a ghost, and saw a vision of himself having been dragged up a dirty stairwell by a mangled figure. 

He reached the end of the hall and figured he would try to find the bathroom so he could splash cold water on his face and promptly think, but he began to hear noises from one of the rooms. It was Sofia's room, and he had seen her car outside when they had came in, so she was definitely there. He pushed the door open a crack and peeked in for a second.

Sofia sat on her bed crosslegged and Genji sat beside her. They were on their phones, laughing sparely and pointing at each other's screens a couple of times. Across from them, though, was a girl Gabriel had only seen in a picture, who he assumed to be Hana, on her DS and chewing gum rather loudly. A nasty habit, but she still modestly sat up straight in Sofia's desk chair. 

Gabriel stepped in the room. "Hey," he addressed to everyone as he made eye contact with Sofia. Genji looked up from whatever she was showing him and smiled thinly.

"Gabe, you guys are back. Why'd you close the shop so early?" Sofia paused, leaning back against her wall and continuing to text. "Well, you don't work here, but, yeah."

"We...went somewhere." Gabriel stuttered out, as if that hadn't been a fact before he established it as such. "Best if you'd ask Jack or Ana about it."

Sofia's lazy curiosity seemed sated for at that time as she shrugged and popped a piece of buttered popcorn into her mouth and remained silent. However, Genji seemed far from placid and continued to look at Gabriel with the eyes of near suspicion. 

"Hey, Genji." Gabriel finally spoke up. Immediately, Genji had already stood up. "Can you...may I speak to you, please?" 

Genji nodded and followed Gabriel out of the room. Sofia watched them leave, yet Hana still paid no attention to either. The two of them went into the hall and out to the main room. Ana regarded Genji with a short glance, regarding Gabriel with a much longer one, as if to say without a voice, 'Don't be rude.'

He shot out a mind wave in return, 'Don't worry.'

The two of them, outside of the store, walked a bit away from the door so customers could go in and out. They stood by the side of the shop, and were very silent as they did. Genji seemed a little tense that Gabriel had wanted to speak with him, as if hadn't a clue as to why. He probably didn't. 

"You know," Gabriel began first, attempting to start their conversation on a lighter note (although he wasn't sure the news was as light as he hoped to deliver them), and to get Genji to relax and maybe tell him the truth. He didn't know if Genji was a lier or not, since he had barely spoken to him earlier, but being able to get the truth and only that came as instinct from being a police officer. "Your friend, Tekhartha, I think it was; right after you and Sofia left, he came in."

At this Genji perked up. "Tek was here?" He asked, taking his phone from his pocket and glancing at it, probably seeing if had gotten any messages from his friend. He sighed; deemed, he probably had. "Oh, did he say why?"

"Yeah." Gabriel scratched the back of his head. "He had a bunch of papers. Wouldn't leave them with us, though, so you could get them later."

Genji seemed a little taken aback by this. Not as if he was confused, but as if he didn't want to try to explain what Gabriel was lowkey asking. 'What was on those papers? What did you want, with a moldy, rusted subway, with ghosts, cults and some mangled woman-goddess.' The boy pulled a smile. "Oh, yeah. That's my homework. Totally forgot about it when I went over to his house the other day."

There it was. The lie. Genji seemed so nice; at least Gabriel had tried to write him off as honest. However, the lie was delivered so well. No sweat, no stress, although his expression was a little perplexed. 

Gabriel just wondered why he lied in the first place. 

Perhaps it wasn't his place to ask, although really, it was strange that 'homework' was so private that Tekhartha wouldn't even leave it in the shop for Genji to retrieve later. If Genji really needed his 'homework' so badly, why was it so personal? Gabriel obviously knew that the lie was thin, since Ana and Jack both could tell that the papers held information far from being math problems or an essay. The issue being, Gabriel didn't know if he should press further into the subject. 

Genji was the one to continue. "Why did you pull me outside for this?"

He knew very well, Gabriel could finally see clearly. Genji's eyes held an emotion quite like anxiety, masked by his stiff stance beside the officer. Gabriel bit his lip, and looked off. "Well..."

"I don't like being kept in the dark." Genji leaned over, trying to catch his gaze again. "Continue. Please."

Gabriel felt as if he practically was obliged to. He didn't want Genji to worry if he was in trouble or suspected if Gabriel didn't clear up the reason why they were outside in the winter's biting cold. 

"Because," he began, hoping that telling the truth would be wise of him. "Both Ana and Jack sensed something...strange about the papers with Tekhartha. Basically, we know that it's not 'homework'. I know."

Genji seemed quite relieved at this understanding contrary to tense as Gabriel had expected him to become. He ran a hand back through his spiked hair. "Do you know what it is?"

"No." Gabriel told him. "We couldn't figure it out."

"...you went and investigated, didn't you?" Genji asked. 

Gabriel's eyes flashed back over to the boy. Why did he think that, besides the fact that they had left the shop early after Tekhartha had arrived and departed? 

"Yes. We did."

"What did you find?" Genji murmured, unmoved by Gabriel's expression of confusion. 

Gabriel wondered if Genji was masking more emotion than he seemed to be, but it was beginning to become a little clearer that Genji wasn't some 'super-secretive evil cult worshipping mastermind' or whatever he had thought before after having found it strange that Genji had wanted research on the station. The boy seemed just as curious as everyone else was. It was no telling who or what was actually behind everything. 

"Well, we found out there's some lady haunting the food court. And that the cult that practices down there is praising a female goddess that also gave me the mark that's on my wrist." Gabriel told him. Genji seemed a little taken aback at the very briefed story, but a little amazed as well. "Even the knife that did it."

"Wow..." The younger man let out. "That's...that's a lot to take in, isn't it?"

"You're telling me." Gabriel let out a small chuckle, rolling up and out of his throat. 

They stood is silence for an awkward tad, before Genji spoke again. "So, am I off of the hook? Because really, I was just curious."

"That's the thing, Genji." Gabriel began again, making the boy furrow his brows. "No, you're not in trouble or anything. I'm not going to arrest you like you think I might. I just want to know, what did you want with that subway anyways?"

Genji looked down at the ground, scuffing the heel of his brown winter boot into the rocky drive. "It's a...its personal to say." He told him. 

"Well, I kinda need to know." Gabriel replied softly, wanting to get whatever else he could out of Genji. Besides, this was the most important point. 

Genji took a while before he told him why. "The thing is, I've heard rumours of who that lady is. Not the ghost, but the goddess. Here, at the store, we have had a few experiences with the cultists. Some run-ins." Genji fumbled his his sleeves. "We have encountered them elsewhere, too. They've said things about her. They were familiar things."

Genji stopped. "I'm sorry, I don't think I could say much more."

Gabriel let him off with a pat on the back. Although he didn't quite get what he was trying to say or hint at, he was sure that Ana and Jack would understand it. He would inform them later of everything that Genji had told him. The two went back inside, and Genji went back to Sofia's room. 

Gabriel went over to the counter, and watched as Ana bid farewell to another customer, loaded with a bag of herbs. 

Ana was far too busy putting away coins in the organized register to spare him even a glance. "Please tell me you didn't handcuff the poor thing."

"No." Gabriel rolled his eyes, and Ana buffered a small laugh horribly. "He did talk to me though. I'll tell you about it later."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so so so sorry that this is so late!!!
> 
> This isn't the full chapter. I need to work on that. I have been trying to write this part this ENTIRE MONTH. It was difficult for me so I took a break! I will get back on track IMMEDIATELY! I'm sorry for the wait;; but this is at least a small pickup from where I had left off. Please forgive me!!
> 
> This is probably very bad and doesn't make any sense, but here you go! If you see any contradictions please point them out to me. Thanks. 
> 
> \- Jacob


	13. Sleeping Pains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a long day, it's nice to relax, or at least try to.

That night, Gabriel stayed at Jack's again, but this time, Ana was there until a good few after midnight. The three of them, after dinner, sat in the living room again and had a discussion about what Genji had told Gabriel, who tried to relay all that he remembered as accurately as he could. The boy hadn't told him that much, so it wasn't that difficult to remember what was said between them. Still, many gaps were left from where Genji wasn't all that truthful with him. 

Jack wondered why Gabriel hasn't pressed the boy for information as where Ana was glad he hadn't. She kindly reminded the blonde that Genji didn't need to be interrogated as Gabriel might interrogate a criminal (though it wasn't really his line of work), since he was just a kid after all. He had no involvement with the cult, that much was obvious, so he didn't need to be treated as if he did. Jack tried to clarify that that wasn't how he meant they should have approached the situation, but Ana just shrugged it off, just glad that Gabriel had been the one to question Genji in the end. 

Gabriel really just wondered what Genji had meant by saying that 'the goddess had seemed familiar'. Sure, he could've meant it as just that, but it didn't guarantee that it wasn't on a personal level or anything. He didn't ask Ana or Jack about this, but he could tell they knew what he was thinking and couldn't seem to come up with any ideas of their own. Instead, they set their sights on explaining the other topic Genji had brought up. The cultists that targeted them various times. 

The run in at the shop was recent, a month or two before Gabriel came into their lives. The cultists weren't specifically trying to start a dispute with the witches no matter how bad it ended. They came to suggest that the witches stay away from their spots of worship, and once the witches played innocent, and Ana told Gabriel that they really had been, the cultists left the shop in anger. Gabriel asked how that turned out bad, but was rewarded with the story about the curse they had placed upon them. Not only did the curse affect the shop, but it also affected Ana, Jack and Sofia. The shop began to have rodent problems, and the roof began to give way during storms. Things that were placed in certain areas would move, such as a certain crystal was placed near a certain herb it probably wouldn't be associated with. It got so paranoia-inducing that Sofia moved in with Jack for the time being. She began to have nightmares, and so did the other two witches. Ana figured out that the cultists that had came to their shop had done went fed up and cursed them, outright a blood ritual. Ana combatted the curse by salting the shop and their respective homes, casting protection spells, and getting Jack to do some handy work repairing the roof and calling in an exterminator. Though all of this was done, and the curse had appeared to disappear and be lifted from them, the three still weren't sure that the curse was truly over. 

Gabriel joked that the curse may have been passed on to him, what with the mark and all. Jack and Ana were not so pleased but didn't comment. It was simply obvious in their faces. 

Ana departed for her own home eventually, and Jack and Gabriel were alone again. Jack cleaned up after their tea that they had been having whilst Gabriel reclined on the couch and recollected himself of the events of that day although they had just freshly examined them. Once the blonde man reentered the living room, he asked Gabriel if he would want to get a shower in before bed, since he hadn't bathed in a few days and certainly didn't feel nor smell all that cleansed. Gabriel agreed, and he went into Jack's bathroom, where his shower was. 

Gabriel shut the door and peeled off his tank top. Not his, he reminded himself, but Jack's. It felt a little strange wearing another man's clothing, but it wasn't like he was just realizing that, unlike how he just realized how odd it was to so quickly accept the invitation to shower in a nearing-acquaintance's bathroom. Were Jack and him friends yet? Quite possibly, and if not, Gabriel hoped that would change soon, because rooming in a house with someone for around three good whole days without being somewhat close was worse than anything else on the list. 

As soon as Gabriel figured out how to turn on the shower, getting it warm enough to step in, there was a knock on the bathroom door. He was glad he was still wearing pants. The man opened the door and looked down at Jack, who held folded in his arms the blue sweatshirt from earlier. 

"Hey," he began, holding it out to Gabriel. He smiled thinly, and it was almost obvious he was trying his best to not take a short peek down at the officer's chest. "Here's this. You'd probably like wearing it better than the tank top. If you want to wear something else, you can come choose before you get in."

God, why was Jack so kind and generous? Though, he looked like the type of man that would be, as well as the type taken for granted far too often. Gabriel shook his head. 

"No, this will do." He took the sweatshirt and sat it on the counter beside him. He eyed Jack a little more, who was in turn doing momentarily a little more eyeing than probably necessary. He looked up again after being addressed. "Jack?"

"Yeah?" His baby blue eyes darted upwards. 

"Thank you. For everything." Gabriel began, running a hand back through his curly black, oily hair. "I haven't known you for that long, but you act as if we have known each other for ages. You welcome me to your home and everything so easily. I don't really get that, but thank you. I promise I'll be out of you hair as soon as we sort all of this out. That's probably our first priority, right?"

Jack seemed a bit taken aback at the compliments and thanksgiving. He smiled sheepishly, shrugging bastardly. He acted as if he was a child that had drawn a good enough picture to be hung up on the fridge; prideful but with an awkward aura that was like a child that was glad their art was good enough, but had almost been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. That said, Jack looked a bit all-knowing again, the narrator of a story that knew far more than the characters, and agitated the readers. Jack was many things in that quick moment. He would always be many things at a time. 

"You never know, Gabriel." Jack mused lightheartedly, but with their current situation it wasn't holding so sure as a meaningless suggestion, especially since Jack knew just about everything there was to know about anything. "Perhaps we knew each other in another life. Still, there's no need to thank me. This is was friends are for, right? We are going through a dangerous time. It's best we stick together, and if being honest, Gabriel, I don't think be out of my hair for a very long time."

"Which means you know I won't be." Gabriel retorted, and Jack noticeably held in an unattractive, though intriguing, snicker. 

"You're right about that." The blonde sighed out, gauchely keeping his eyes from meeting Gabriel. "Anyways, don't worry about a thing. You're welcome in my home."

Gabriel felt a stiff clutch in his heart, which made him ask unconsciously, "I still don't get it. Whys that? Why do you trust me so much?"

Jack finally met Gabriel's dark eyes with a grin that explained nothing he wanted to know but everything he didn't want to know. "Because I know you won't hurt me, and that you can't. The world is a dangerous place Gabriel, and we both know this, but you," Jack paused, took a breath and turned away. "You are not a dangerous man."

Gabriel took his word for it. Least he knew when to pull a gun. 

-

That night it was hard to fall asleep. Gabriel laid in the guest bedroom awake for hours after his shower, and though it had helped him relax and feel better, it woke him up more than it really should have since it had been consisting of warm water after all. Besides, he couldn't seem to shake the vision he had seen from his mind, finding that every time he closed his eyes he could hear the goddess's ragged breathing, and heard Jack's cries for Ana. He kept feeling the knife's wooden handle on his finger pads, and his mind scanned over 'AZM' about a dozen times before he finally washed that out and thought about other things, still involuntarily. The blood, the candles. His fingers traced over his mark, scabbing over. His mind flickered to Genji, his perception, his deception. He thought of Amélie's innocence. He thought of...

Jack. Jack was standing in the doorway. He had almost gave Gabriel a heart attack. The officer bolted up in bed at the man, who stood in a faded t-shirt and fuzzy night-pants, holding a flashlight, pointed to the floor as to not blind Gabriel but to guide himself in the dark. 

The both of them were silent for a couple of seconds as Jack rendered that Gabriel was awake and as the man in return tried to find something to say but had ran dry from worry and doubt that flooded his aching brain. In that moment, the silence was near welcomed, but was suddenly unnerving. Jack broke it finally. 

"I heard your thoughts." He proclaimed hoarsely, his voice echoing no louder in the quiet house than the voice of a whispering butterfly would have rose. Gabriel could barely hear him over the sound of the ceiling fan, ringing around with soft squeaks and groans. 

"You did?" Gabriel asked, yet rather replied duly, because of course Jack had. 

"Yeah."

"They keep you awake too?"

"Yeah." Jack repeated, pleasing himself to sit on the edge of the guest bed, near Gabriel's covered feet. He continued to shine the light downwards though it was mostly pointless now. 

Gabriel positioned himself against the headboard and watched Jack sit. He made a bit more room for him to do so. They were quiet for a moment more, but this time, it felt more comfortable that it had before for some reason neither could identify though Jack could of he wasn't so tired and actually cared to know why. 

Jack finally switched off the light. "You shouldn't worry so much." Then, before Gabriel could reply, he cleared his throat. "Scratch that, you should worry. Just...not to the point of where you are so restless."

Gabriel didn't respond to the subject directly. "What time is it?" He asked Jack, who paused, probably checking his inner clock that he seemed to possess. Lucky him. 

"It's around three." He told Gabriel. "That's not really the point though it is part of it. You've been awake for a couple of hours. You need to relax and go to sleep."

"I know that." Gabriel yawned out of sheer exhaustion. Jack attempted to not take on the chain reaction of also yawning, and surprisingly passed. "I just can't."

"You need to."

"I know that." Gabriel repeated. 

Jack didn't say anything again and Gabriel was near fed up with their pauses. However, he didn't speak either and the two slipped back into listening to the fan, plus the now noticeable cries of crickets from outside the bedroom window, plus the occasional hoot of an owl from the trees surrounding the home. 

"Does it ever get...you know, scary out here?" Gabriel asked, and Jack's attention was slowly steeped back to the man. "With all the...ambience. Plus the possibility of a bear attack or something. I mean, you're just in the woods all alone."

"I can handle myself." Jack shrugged nonchalantly, though this made Gabriel curious as to how Jack would handle himself fairly facing off against a great big furry beast all alone in his little, quaint house in the woods. He didn't want that to happen though, because no matter what Jack was, he was sure it wouldn't end up so pretty. It wasn't like the blonde could just look at the bear and think it dead and it would be so. 

"Besides the point." Gabriel kneaded his hands into the plush bedding, as to give him something over to do in their random, solemn conversation that to just stare at the other man, though that wasn't such a bad idea. "I just don't get how you do it. Live out here. I'd feel pretty unsafe no matter how nice of a decorator you are."

Jack responded, "Its not so bad with you here."

Gabriel took a double take and Jack seemed to notice before Gabriel could say anything else. He stood from the bed, turning on the flashlight again, much to Gabriel's dismay. "You need to get some sleep." He repeated, before leaving the room rather skittishly. "Goodnight."

Gabriel shrunk down into the sheets again, disappointed that their conversation had ended so abruptly though it hadn't been that important. It was important to Gabriel, since it had filled the spaces in his mind once scattered with nightmare taunters with lighter subjects that although nerve racking the think about had resulted in a difficult to process compliment, which Gabriel assumed it had been, Jack had gifted to him. 

He pulled the blankets over his head and went to sleep a little more peacefully than he would have, a little after four. He wasn't sure when jack had fell asleep, but he had hoped it had been sooner than himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, probably short, more filler information, but I probably with have another chapter posted tomorrow (don't hold me on my word;;) that will include a new character that Gabriel will meet! 
> 
> So look out for that :^)
> 
> \- Jacob


	14. Two's a Couple, Three's a Crowd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meet the boyfriend.

The next day the trio went to the shop again, but Jack had different plans for Gabriel. He wouldn't stay around the shop for most of the day since it would probably bore him out of his mind, though Gabriel did not think it would not be the case since ever time he was there something unexpected happened. Instead, Jack informed him of the invitation from Hanzo to come over to his house to stay a while and chat. 

This surprised Gabriel even though that had recently reconciled over the incubus-situation and had gotten along pretty well the other day at breakfast. He wondered if Hanzo wanted to talk about anything specifically. Maybe he knew about him asking Genji those questions about the station. He hoped he wasn't in any sort of trouble with him, though he was sure he shouldn't be since he hasn't threatened the boy or anything. 

Gabriel complied; he didn't really know what else to do. Go to work, he told himself, but again, he knew he couldn't. Jack wanted to keep a close eye on him, and besides, his car was still in the parking lot near the station. God, be hoped it didn't get towed, but he knew Liao wouldn't let that happen to him. 

Liao. Damn, he wished he could call him. How would he explain himself being missing for a good couple of days? Liao would probably yell at him for disappearing, and honestly, Gabriel wondered if he would cry or something. He was pretty emotional, after all. Gabriel missed his dumb quivering voice already. 

"Peter told me I look like a deranged giraffe during sex!...do I?"

The voice didn't come from the vision of Liao in his head. Gabriel's eyes flickered over to Jack, who leant on the counter, near snickering. He had read his mind. When did he ever not?

Jack stopped. "What did you answer?" He asked, standing up straight as he addressed Gabriel, who scoffed, since Jack obviously knew anyways. 

"Well, I told him he looks like a deranged giraffe every day of the week, worse on Sundays." Gabriel crossed his arms, a smile rising on his face as he recalled his words. "Though, he really looks nothing like a giraffe and his boyfriend just spews out fake insults like there's no tomorrow."

"What he'd say then?"

"Why're you interested?"

Jack took a sip of the water beside the register. He screw the cap back on. "Because, I'm bored. And your friends seem nice."

"Maybe you should get acquainted. I only have two." Gabriel rolled his eyes. "You have...how many?"

"A lot. A lot more than you've seen around here." Jack replied. Gabriel believed him, since he must've made a fortune number out of jock friends in high school. 

"Will I meet them all?"

"Unless you meet the parents, don't think you're getting up there." Jack turned away to say hello to a customer walking into the store, the bell on the doorframe chiming lowly. 

"Meet the parents?" Gabriel let his arms fall down to his sides with a small laugh. "We haven't went on a proper date yet."

"You want to change that?" Jack asked. 

Gabriel didn't hear him. The bell on the door rung again. Turning his head to the side, he met eyes with Hanzo, who today was adorning a mustard colour turtleneck and forest green khakis. How could a man be so fashionable? Maybe Jack gave him some pointers. 

"Good morning." The man greeted both of them, slowly shutting to door behind himself before walking up to the counter. He wore a smile today that was small, but it was sweet. 

"Hey, Hanzo! Thought you'd get here a little later." Jack grinned, turning his attention halfway to dusting the counter his a free hand. "Glad you got here, though. Gabriel just loves to run his mouth off."

The accused man scoffed. "As if, whitey." 

Though Hanzo held a face as if he noted what Jack joked, he looked at Gabriel fully now. "You have agreed to come?"

"Oh, yeah, sure. Of course." Gabriel kindly returned a smile, shrugging. "I don't have anything to do around here. It'd be nice to get to know you better."

"Yes, it would." Hanzo nodded. He clicked his tongue. "Well, Jack, I guess we will be going then. Say hello to Ana for me."

Unsurprisingly, from one of the backrooms (Gabriel supposed the bathroom), Ana yelled, "Hello Hanzo!" which caused the man to chuckle greatly for a moment before bidding both goodbye and walking outside with Gabriel over to his cars. 

Gabriel wasn't sure if he was surprised that it was a luxurious black Land Rover Range Rover Evoque. Damn, that was a long ass name for some classy car. 

Hanzo unlocked the car and Gabriel got in on the passengers side. They both did their seat belts, and whilst Gabriel was amazed at how clean the vehicle was (he was sure either it was new or Hanzo was a fan of tidy spaces), the other man started the car and backed up. He began down the main road, but to the left, not towards the city. Gabriel knew that their was a small outer town the direction they were headed, near the ocean. Perhaps Hanzo lived on the coast, being a sea witch and all, it was pretty likely. 

They weren't quiet for long, and Gabriel was pretty relieved at that. 

"So," Hanzo began, "How was your sleep last night?". Small talk, but it was admired. Anything to begin to converse, since Gabriel himself wasn't quite sure what Hanzo liked to talk about. He seemed enough like a simple man. Gabriel wasn't a simple man. He couldn't hold conversations about sports and politics (the last of which was a bit awkward since he was a cop and all). 

Gabriel made a noise, as if he was thinking. "Eh, I guess I slept alright. Took a while to get to sleep, though."

"I think that you are thinking to much. Too hard." Hanzo adjusted the inner mirror, glancing in it. They were alone on the forest road. 

"Huh?" Gabriel tilted his head to him. "What do you mean?" 

"Because of what happened. In the subway." Gabriel was about to ask about that, but Hanzo didn't leave the question unanswered even before it was asked. "Ana told me about it, over the phone. You doing alright?" Hanzo's voice filled with concern as he glanced over to Gabriel.

The man thought for a moment, but responded plainly, "I've been better." He was just glad that Hanzo could tell what he was really thinking; 'I'm goddamn terrified of whatever the hell was going on down there, and even more so that I was included involuntarily.' However, he didn't say this and Hanzo didn't press it. 

Eventually, as Gabriel had predicted, they reached the coastal area. It was like that of an island's town, with beach houses lining the far shore as they closed in on that region, through a small rustic community. There were many tourist trap stores, with towels and surfboards and bathing suits and all sorts of essentials for the area lining the tall windows, but there were also odd and end shops. He saw at least two harvest stands and a few little diners or ice cream vendors. It was surely a peaceful place, particularly a place that Gabriel thought would be a nice retirement location. 

They drove into the neighborhood of beach houses, and Gabriel admired the summer look of all of them though it was winter. They were all sorts of pastels; pink, blue, orange, green, you name it. The roofs ranged from flat to barn, and their sizes didn't differ too much. He could tell that most were probably rentals, especially the smaller ones. Hanzo passed them by. 

He eventually drove up into the driveway of a light blue house on medium stilts, which was very close to the shore, it which it's porch faced. It must be nice in the morning, drinking coffee and observing the waves coming inland. With not a care in the world; you know, without a satanic-ass etching in your a with no real purpose or meaning as of yet. 

So this was where Hanzo lived. It seemed...suitable for him, whereas Genji seemed more like a city-dweller. Now, he wasn't quite sure about this Jesse that Hanzo had talked about. He figured that he was about to meet him?

"You left him alone?" Gabriel asked him. Hanzo got what he meant immediately. 

"No." He replied, parking the car at the driveway's far end, and undoing his seatbelt with a swift click. "Genji is here with him."

Gabriel nodded and got out with Hanzo, shutting the car door carefully behind him. When he touched the pavement, he was hardly surprised to find himself standing in a heaping pile of sand. Hanzo walked by and muttered a self reminder to sweep later and led Gabriel up the stairs to the front porch. The officer wasn't much surprised to see little stone figures by the door of turtles, and a ton of sun-plants in what seemed to be self made clay pots. He also wasn't surprised to see the living room decor either. 

The walls were beige inside, and there was dark oak flooring, shiny and neatly kept. There were more plants inside, in tiny pots. Gabriel could see more in the open kitchen; there was no way he could take care of them all himself, and if so, he was very productive and on top of things. He seemed like the type of guy, at least. 

Hanzo offered him a seat on the couch as he went into the kitchen to get them both a glass of tea. Gabriel sat down into their plush beige couch, assuming that if he had at least ten minutes sitting on it, he'd fall right to sleep. However, he planned to try to stay awake. It was only polite. 

As he looked around this room, he heard a clicking sound repeating, coming from a distance away. He raised a brow and turned his head, and soon met his demise. 

They had a dog. Of course, they had a dog. 

It was big. A golden retriever, he thought, but he couldn't tell them and Labradors apart regardless. It had it's big pink tongue out, from his parted black lips that mocked a toothy grin. It bounded over to him, it's neck fur shaking as it bounced. It's black-tipped paws soon felt at the side of the couch, and it's back legs hoisted itself up with a energy filled jump. 

Then, the punishment began. It's paws fell down on Gabriel's thighs as it leant over to him. The dog began to lick at his arm (which, strangely, he noticed to to be the one with the Mark), happily, or whatever emotion it was feeling. 

Gabriel tried to move away from it by leaning back on the couch, but ended up making the situation worse, as it now managed to hold him down. He wondered if it would eventually smother him under it's thick coat. 

"Joan!" He heard Hanzo call from the kitchen. Gabriel looked over as Hanzo came into the living room, sitting their glasses on coasters, and whistling at his dog. It (...she?) whimpered lowly and hopped off of him and into the floor, laying down meekly at it's side, ashamed. Hanzo clicked his tongue at her before turning his head to Gabriel, worriedly. 

"I am so sorry about that." He apologized, though Gabriel really wanted an apology from the dog that did not include licking or being in any proximity of it. "She loves strangers; really friendly."

"No, it's..." Gabriel began, looking back at the dog. "...just maybe she could be friendly to somebody else."

Hanzo nodded. "I'll go out her back in Jesse's room." He stood up and squatted down beside the dog, petting her big head as she licked her chomps. "Come on, girl." He told her, standing back up straight to lead her towards a door at the end of a very small hallway. She eagerly followed, and Gabriel let out a sigh of relief. 

As Gabriel waited for him to come back, he heard Genji's voice from the back room talking to Hanzo. Then, he assumed, to the dog (why else would he put on such a sing-song baby-talk voice?). Hanzo began to say something again, but this time, another man's voice, very low and inaudible, responded. 

Gabriel assumed that was Jesse. 

Hanzo came back out of the room, followed by Genji, who closed the door behind them so the dog wouldn't come back at. Genji smiled at Gabriel when he saw him, eyes slightly filling with pleasant surprise. 

"Anija," he began, "You didn't tell me that Gabriel was coming over!" 

Hanzo nodded. "I had forgotten to." He apologized, going back over to the couch and sitting down. Genji went into the kitchen to loot the fridge, and meanwhile, Gabriel predicted he'd gotten his shorts from some children's store, because there was no way they could be that short otherwise. 

Hanzo turned to him and his eyes were drawn back to attention. "That was Jesse, if you heard him." He informed him, not like Gabriel really had any other idea of who else it could've been. "He's getting up right now; he's been in bed, and Genji's been watching TV with him all day."

Genji looked over from the kitchen. He'd pulled out a pint of ice cream, cookie dough. "Aw, you make it sound like I'm lazy."

"You'd better not plan to eat that straight out of the pint." Hanzo warned him. 

Genji stared at him another moment before slowly sliding the sweet back into the fridge. Hanzo smirked. The younger then, instead, grabbed a bottle of water. "Wasn't really wanting it anyways."

He came over to join them on the couch, sitting next to Gabriel. Pretty close, but still, the older man was just glad that he felt comfortable around him with all things considered. He was also relieved that Hanzo felt the same and didn't really mind the fact that he was, well, whatever he was. 

The door of the bedroom opened again, and a man stepped out quickly so that he could shut the door before the dog could get out again. This caused her to whine sadly, but it was much better than getting slobbered and pounced on. 

The man was pretty tall, and Gabriel would assume taller than himself. He wore a white tee and khaki knee shorts (an improvement from the audacity Genji was sporting) over his light brown skin, and damn, did he have a ton of arm and leg hair. Regardless, it fit his entire look, whatever the goal was, with his scruffy beard adding to it. He had choppy, dark brown hair that barely stopped at the dip of his shoulders, and his eyes were a shining copper, addressing his face in a warm attitude. 

Last of all, he didn't look sick. He looked surprisingly healthy for how Hanzo had described him before. He had colour to his cheeks, a light red. His eyes didn't look all that tired either for someone who had apparently laid in bed all day. 

His eyes instantly fell on Gabriel, then to the two brothers, as if examining them all. Then, he presumed his recent adjustment. 

"Hey there." He greeted, less meekly than assumed, his voice gruff but strong, words delivered direct. "How ya' doing?" 

"Fine." Gabriel responded. "Yourself?"

Jesse shrugged. "Pretty alright." His eyes switched over to the youngest man, a twitch on the corner of his lips. "Genji's a good caretaker...somehow. Haven't figured that out yet."

Genji rolled his eyes and unscrewed the lid of his water bottle. "Least I don't 'sugar' you up all day like Hanzo does."

"Maybe you should." Hanzo jested to the younger. "He likes that." This caused Genji to groan and take a lengthy sip of water. 

Gabriel honestly did not understand how any group of people could have so much instant humour on hand. It was a little annoying and slightly threatening, since it sort of made him feel like he was no longer in the conversation because he didn't have any input. Probably the reason he didn't have any friends other than a childhood one and the quirky husband.

"Anyways," Hanzo gently fawned, switching subjects efficiently. He told Jesse, "This is Gabriel, the one I've been talking about."

Jesse took a moment and nodded. "Yeah, heard about you."

Then, immediately after with hardly any pause, he demanded only less than rudely, "Show me your wrist."

Hanzo clucked. "Jesse." 

"What?" He dragged out, shrugging. "I'm just curious. Didn't mean anything by it, it's just that...that Mark is dangerous business. I assume. I guess any weird ritual mark that appears on an unsuspecting person would be dangerous."

"I've heard it's dangerous." Gabriel sided with Jesse, a short while after his long fumbling. He admitted, "It just hasn't really done anything yet."

"Well, that's good, right?" Genji spoke up from beside him. "Just a guess, but you probably don't want it to do anything ever."

Gabriel glanced to him. "I don't think it will, really."

Genji raised his thick brows at him. "But what's it's purpose then?"

That, Gabriel didn't know, and Ana and Jack hadn't either. He was really sure if he wanted to know it's purpose or not. He didn't want it to do anything, because he was sure that if it did, it wouldn't be anywhere near good. He just hoped it stay subtle and quiet, because he was already so on edge about other things, and he didn't really want to have to deal with the Mark randomly doing some sort of voodoo magick shit on him.

Gabriel looked over at Hanzo now, ignoring the question that Genji had asked, hoping he wasn't really expecting an answer, least not a good one if anything. "If Jesse wants to see the Mark, he can." He wanted to be sure with him if it would be okay to show him. He didn't know if it would upset Jesse. Gabriel didn't want another 'Sofia Accident' to happen again. 

Hanzo nodded to him after a pause and Gabriel unveiled his arm to Jesse by turning it over and extending it. Jesse came a tad closer and squinted down at it. 

He took a while to produce a long whistle from his parted lips. "Damn, that's one deep etch." His eyes went back up to Gabriel. "Hanzo hadn't told me why exactly you have it, though."

"Of course, I don't really know," Hanzo added, "and I'm sure Gabriel doesn't either. It's just a really confusing situation."

"Actually," Gabriel interjected, addressing the couple, sitting up a little less lazily on the couch. "I...sorta do. You see, when we went into the station, I saw a vision."

Gabriel went through telling them all about the vision, Genji a little eager to hear this, since he hadn't when they were talking before. Jesse seemed far more irked than Hanzo, who also hadn't heard that part of the story from Ana. He'd only heard about what they found, only, including the spirit, Amelie. 

"Let me get this straight." Jesse began after the story. "So the whole reason you even have that mark is because you were snooping around, got down on the tracks to look at some weird broach thing, and got hit by a ghost train?"

"Yes." Gabriel nodded, though sure that was explainable in itself, as he'd went in detail with his story.

"So," Jesse tilted his head. "Why was the fact you needed to buy bread so important to you?"

Gabriel smirked. "I was hungry, and I wanted a sandwich."

"That's reasonable." Genji suddenly conjoined from beside him, smiling apologetically at his interjection. He had long gotten bored and grabbed a bag of wheat chips from the kitchen and was scarfing them down as if it were popcorn at a movie. 

"Okay, well," Jesse shifted back in his position in the armchair, leaning against the cushiony backside. "...you mentioned this...cult lady? Is she a...demon?" He almost sounded tentative, the bite on his lip not nearly vague hiding what he meant by the question. 

Hanzo noticed this and cleared his throat, ending the subject of demons with, "Genji thinks he knows."

Genji had just stuffed two sizable chips in his mouth. He crunched them quickly and swallowed, a little surprised at being called out. "Oh, yeah...I'm not completely sure, so don't take my word on this as complete truth."

Jesse nodded, and apparently had been left out on this information. It wasn't hard to imagine why. 

"I think it's the incubus that tried to charm me in my sleep." He told him. 

Jesse's face instantly dropped it's previously passive smile. His jaw clenched. "...Why'd you say that? You seen her?"

"No, I haven't, I've just...heard about her." Genji stated. "You know how I've mentioned the cultists coming to the store, trying to pick fights but always being too much of cowards to do anything? Yeah, well, they weren't afraid to talk about their goddess. How she'd put Marks on people, but they were...different than the Mark Gabriel has. I've seen them, they've showed them. They're not on the wrist but in the palm." 

Genji sat down his bag of chips, his silly demeanor dropping. He sat up straight, serious as he delivered what he knew. "They've spoke about her appearance, but rarely, and subtlety. They've called her an Angel, but she's obviously not. They've also called her a Healer, and she's totally not that. She hurts people, or else, why'd she engrave that Mark into someone's arm that's unwilling?" Genji paused for a moment and swallowed. "What I'm trying to say is, I never really got a reason why that happened to me, why that incubus attached me. Gabriel doesn't know why some cult goddess engraved that Mark in his arm. I just hope he gets an answer."

Hanzo took a moment to render everything his younger brother said. It made sense to Gabriel, but he waited for Hanzo to speak first. 

"I see what you're talking about, Genji." He complied, then looked him seriously in the eyes. "But I never want you going to that station. Ever."

Genji's face twisted a bit in confusion. "What? I would never go to the—"

"Genji, Ana told me. Don't try to lie." Hanzo shook his head sternly at him and the younger fell back against the seat a little childishly. "Besides, Gabriel has already talked to you about this."

"It is dangerous." Gabriel agreed. "And as an officer, it should be completely off limits to anyone, but with all this...cultist works, I'm afraid it's out of my reach to do anything. Especially since I'm practically one of the cult's specimens, or whatever this Mark labels me as. All I ask, though, is that you stay away, like your brother asked you to, and I think it's best if you tell Tekhartha to not go back either."

The spiky haired boy nodded, knowing he'd no other choice. Gabriel just hope he understood. "Alright."

"Good." Jesse spoke up, slapping his big, calloused hands together. "Because I'm not letting you get anywhere near that place. I don't want anything happening to you."

Gabriel wondered if Jesse could even stop him, since it did require going in public and possibly having to deal with the supernatural. However, he kept this to himself. 

Still, he wanted to know something. 

After they'd talked a little more, Hanzo offered that Gabriel stay for dinner. Of course, he wasn't one to pass up a healthy salad and roasted chicken, so he sat down with them and ate. The four did not discuss anything out of the ordinary, thankfully to Gabriel's growing headache and the odd sensation of sensitivity of his Mark, in which he didn't mention. When they were done with their meal, he aided Hanzo in cleaning the dishes, speaking about how pretty the ocean out back of the cabana looked. 

Since it was getting late, Hanzo was going to take Gabriel back to Jack's house. As Hanzo went to go to the bathroom first, and Genji was in his bedroom, (probably playing video games, as his brother assumed), he was left alone with Jesse by the door where he waited. Jesse came up to speak with him about how nice it was the have him over. 

Then, he mused, a little carefully, as he was treading deep water, but also wistfully, "I'm just glad you're a good person, Gabriel. I've never heard of a incubus, nor a wraith being one."

Gabriel stated a little too soon to think, "Well, thank you. You're looking a little better than I expected you to, with—" he quickly cut himself off when Jesse narrowed his eyes a little bit, not in anger, but more of a wince. 

"With?" He urged. "It's fine, Gabriel."

"..." Gabriel took a deep breath and continued. "With how Hanzo told me what happened. I didn't know if you were..."

"Completely unstable?" Jesse tilted his head, naming suggestions, a little less passively now, "A dirty mess, a shell? Maybe too afraid to look people in the eyes? Limp? Skinny?"

Gabriel felt his face heat up in undeserved embarrassment. "What, no, I didn't...I just thought..."

"I know." Jesse eased up a bit, his tone diminishing, and wether or not he was hiding true hurt feelings was really unclear. 

"I'm sorry if I went agro," he began, running a hand through his wavy dark locks. "I just think sometimes: maybe people shouldn't be asking questions that they don't really want the answers to. The thing is, they don't really care, no matter how much they convince you. Used to feel like it's best to shut up and look down, pretend you don't hear them. Like maybe they'll stop, and leave you how you want to be left, rotting inside with the thoughts and feelings floating around like an illness inside your head, and only yours."

Gabriel felt his heart pulsing, as if he was being scorned. Then, Jesse smiled. 

"But don't worry about that." He said, with a voice that hoped Gabriel trusted him. "People have to know what they gotta know. Some just need to figure out what to tell people when they ask."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH. MY. GOD. 
> 
> I am SO sorry this is so late, I was just having a really bad case of writer's block! I promise I will get back on track, and I hope this will spark some interest!
> 
>  
> 
> Thank you all for reading. - Jacob
> 
> Art Tag: #taodsoverwatch  
> Tumblr: fedevier  
> Instagram: transhanzo

**Author's Note:**

> Wow. So this is the first thing I'm posting on AO3! It seems like a really nice site (and this is coming from a Wattpad user). 
> 
> This fic, honestly, was inspired from me binge reading Out In the Big Wide Woods by LegendaryBard. It's an amazing fic and ou should really read it! 
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks for reading!!  
> -Jacob


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